Nepal’s young girls suffered a heavy defeat in their opening game of the SAFF U17 Women’s Championship, which began at Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan, on Wednesday. They lost 0-7 to India.

India were dominant from the start against a poorly composed Nepal as the players were struggling for position, possession and perseverance.

The neighbours, on the other hand, were playing with a better combination and attack, taking the ball often to Nepal’s half and keeping the defenders and the goalkeeper under pressure.

India’s first goal came from a corner kick in the 16th minute. Indian players took Nepali defenders to the edge of the 18-yard box with only Nira Chanu Longjam keeping Nepali goalie Jharna Dumrakoti in check as Changlimithang Stadium witnessed a drizzle.

The corner by Shveta Rani was perfect as the ball fell where Longjam was disturbing the keeper; Dumrakoti got her hands to the ball, but among the horde of Indian players running towards the goalline, Abhista Basnett sent the deflected ball across the line with a soft touch.

Longjam was involved in the second goal as well, which came in the 26th minute. This time, she was the goalscorer as she found herself in an open space to receive a lovely pass by Anushka Kumari inside the box.

Seven minutes later, it was Kumari who was on the receiving end of a beautiful through pass. Kumari lofted the ball above Dumarkoti, who had prevented a couple of goals already, to make it 3-0 for India.

Seeing his team struggling, Nepal’s head coach Chet Narayan Shrestha made two changes in the 39th minute. Midfielders Alija Kumari BK and Diki Syangbo Tamang were replaced by Anu Majhi and Rabina BK, respectively.

Basnett was again in the spot to receive the ball when it got deflected off Nepal’s Anshu BK to make it go past Dumrakoti for her second, and the team’s fourth goal, in the 41st minute. With the first of the four minutes of additional time underway, India capitalised on another corner kick. Indian skipper Julian Nongmaithem’s shot from inside the box got deflected off Nepali defenders before crossing the goal line.

Down 0-5 in the first half, Nepal were expected to suffer more in the remaining 45 minutes. Yet, the Himalayan girls only conceded two more.

Longjam and Kumari scored their respective second, and the team’s sixth and seventh goals, in the 56th and 62nd minutes to take the score to 7-0.

It was not that Nepal failed to create any chance. But despite managing to take the ball to India’s box, they could not capitalise on it.

“The players did well for the first 10-15 minutes while they could not convert the chances they created in the game,” coach Shrestha said in the post-match conference. “I believe they [players] learned a lot in the first game and will do better in the upcoming fixture against India.”

In the double round-robin league format of the tournament, Nepal will play the three opponents—India, hosts Bhutan, and Bangladesh—twice. They will play Bhutan and Bangladesh on August 22 and 24, respectively, before the second round begins, and Nepal will meet India again on August 29.