Nepal registered their second consecutive win in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers at Milliyy Stadium in Uzbekistan on Wednesday, defeating Sri Lanka 8-0. It was yet another comprehensive victory for Nepal after trouncing Laos 9-0 on Sunday.

On Wednesday, Nepal opened the score in the seventh minute with defender Gita Rana heading the ball crossed from the cornerspot. Nepal continued to score in the first half and before the referee blew the whistle to announce the end of the half, Nepal led 4-0, thanks to a hat-trick by Nepal’s leading goal scorer Sabitra Bhandari aka Samba.

It was a consecutive hat-trick for the skipper, who was given the armband in the first game against Laos on Sunday.

“It was a great win,” Samba told the Post after the match. “All thanks to teamwork.”

Samba scored her first in the 20th minute to extend the lead to 2-0. She then scored her second and the team’s third in the 42nd minute.

She would have completed her hat-trick by then if the referee had allowed her free-kick goal in the 36th minute. “I don’t know why the goal was disallowed,” she said. “I did not understand the referee’s opinion on it properly.”

Unfazed, Samba scored her third in the first minute of the added time to score her 64th international goal for Nepal.

“It was a good win, but we are better than this,” Nepal’s head coach Patrick De Wilde told the Post. “If the internal issues are solved, we can achieve more.”

Wilde made only one change to the squad from the playing set against Laos, with midfielder Preeti Rai replacing Saru Limbu on Wednesday.

Nepal dominated Sri Lanka throughout the game. Nepal’s goalie, Anjana Rana Magar, was comfortable as she had to grab the ball only a handful of times.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s goalie S.G. Sakura Sewwandi Subasingha was extremely busy. Nepal had the opportunity to score almost double what they did. Yet, it was Subasingha and her defenders who prevented it.

Nepal earned a penalty in the second half, and it was converted by Rana to take her goal tally to two in the game. The lead went up to 7-0 with headers from Nisha Thokar and Rekha Poudel in the 62nd and 78th minutes, respectively.

“We had been practising set pieces and attacking football during our training, and it yielded results today,” Samba said. “We are trying to adapt to new technicalities implemented by the head coach.”

The final eighth goal was scored by substitute Puja Rana when Nepal were down to 10 players; it was Puja’s first international goal. Preeti Rai was injured and brought out on the stretcher. As Wilde had already made five substitutions, Nepal played with one fewer player.

“The wins act as motivations,” Samba added. “We will take this energy to the field against Uzbekistan as well.”

Nepal will face Uzbekistan on Saturday in what will be the decider of who travels to Australia for the Asian Cup in 2026.