The national women’s football team made their 100th international game, and new head coach Patrick De Wilde’s first game, a memorable one with a 9-0 win over Laos at the inaugural game of Group F of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Sunday.

“It was a big win for us, a motivating one for the upcoming fixtures,” said Renuka Nagarkote, one of the senior players in the squad. “We played a new style under the new coach, and it was successful.”

Nagarkote wasn’t in the scoring list but for Wilde, she was the best player of the game. “Nagarkote was amazing today,” he told the Post.

Nepal opened their score in the 12th minute with Anita Basnet finding the back of the net. Laos kept on fighting, but Nepal kept on pressing, a style loved by Wilde. “We loved playing offensive today,” Nagarkote said.

The players also expressed happiness to see around a dozen Nepali fans present at the stadium to cheer them up. The fans were congratulating the new head coach and praising his way of football after the game.

Meanwhile, with one minute remaining in the first half’s regulation time, Sabitra Bhandari aka Samba, who was given the captain’s armband today, took the lead to 2-0.

In the second half, the goals did not stop. Saru Limbu, who played her 50th game for Nepal on Sunday, started the scoring within two minutes.

Samba, who had 57 goals under her belt before the game, went on to take that tally to 61. She scored her second in the 55th minute and completed her hat-trick in the 74th minute. But by then, Rashmi Kumari Ghising had also scored one in the 55th.

Samba did not stop after her hat-trick. She continued finding spaces in the opponent’s half. And in the 79th, she scored her fourth.

Substitute Anita KC also scored a goal to take the lead to 8-0 in the 83rd. With one minute remaining for the 90 minutes of regulation time to end, Samba’s shot deflected off a Laos defender and rattled the net, capping off the goal rush.

Nepal will now face Sri Lanka on Wednesday before facing the hosts on Saturday. “We will now shift our focus to Sri Lanka,” Wilde told journalists. “We take one step at a time. There will come a time to think about Uzbekistan and beyond.”