Nepal once considered Laos, alongside Bhutan, to be among its most manageable opponents in international football. For a long time, Nepal did not have to face defeat against either of these two countries. However, after suffering a 2-1 defeat against Laos at the New Laos National Stadium in capital Vientiane on June 10, 2025 in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, the future of the national team’s Australian coach Matt Ross became uncertain. He eventually lost his coaching position due to the national team’s continuously declining performances.

Against that same opponent Laos, Guglielmo Arena is making his debut today as coach of the Nepali team. “Both we and Laos have already been eliminated from qualifying. But we will use this match as an opportunity to try new things and bring improvement to the team. Supporters always want good results. That is natural too. We will focus on improvement while trying to make the supporters happy,” he said before his debut with Nepal’s national football team.

Nepal and Laos are level on 3 points each in Group ‘F’ of the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. In this four-team group, Vietnam has already qualified for next year’s Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia with a match to spare, remaining unbeaten. Malaysia has 9 points from five matches.

Anjan Bista, Manish Dangi, Arik Bista and Rohin Karki respectively training at the Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwor. Photo: ANFA

While Laos, eliminated from qualifying along with Malaysia, sits in third place, Nepal is at the bottom. The three points Nepal has earned also came not from results on the pitch but through an administrative decision. On September 26, 2025, FIFA had penalized the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on charges of fielding seven players using falsified documents. Those players had participated in matches against Nepal and Vietnam.

Subsequently, on March 5, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed FAM’s appeal. Finally, on March 17, 2026, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) reversed the results of both matches that Malaysia had won against Nepal (March 25, 2025) and Vietnam (June 10, 2025), converting them into 0-3 defeats for Malaysia.

Always strong, now weakened

Nepal’s first encounter with Laos, who sit 16 places below them in the FIFA rankings, took place on November 12, 2016. Although that AFC Solidarity Cup semifinal match ended 2-2 in regular time, Nepal won 3-0 in the tiebreaker.

Bimal Gharti Magar, who scored in that match, has since emigrated to Australia, while midfielder Sujal Shrestha, who succeeded in the tiebreaker, is also in the same country. Forward Anil Gurung and defender Bikram Lama have retired. Another goal scorer, Ananta Tamang, will however remain in the team playing against Laos today.

Members of that same squad – goalkeeper Kiran Kumar Chemjong, Ananta Tamang, Anjan Bista, Bharat Khawas, and Nawayug Shrestha – had defeated Laos in both the group stage and the final at Dasharath Stadium in Tripureshwor in March 2023 to win the title. Nepal maintained their unbeaten run against Laos until October 17, 2023. In the first leg of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers on March 12, Anjan Bist’s goal in the 49th minute saved Nepal from defeat, and the match ended 1-1.

Five days later, Nepal won 1-0 in the second leg at the New Laos National Stadium through a goal by Manish Dangi. Since then, Laos had already shown signs of being capable of giving Nepal a tough contest. Finally, on June 10, 2025, Nepal was defeated 2-1 in the first leg of the AFC Asian Cup qualifier at that same ground. With this, Nepal’s unbeaten run against Laos had come to an end.

However, Laos has now changed their coach. Serbian-Austrian coach Vladica Grujic has replaced South Korean coach Ha Hyok-jun, who had delivered that historic victory. Nepali coach Arena is believed to find some comfort from this. “I have already coached Laos in 2023, so I have some knowledge about conditions there. But with a new coach in place, many things may have changed,” Arena says.

Grujic was appointed to the Laos team only a month ago, but he is not a coach unfamiliar with Laos football. He was assistant coach in 2010/11, when Hans Peter Saller led the team. Interestingly, his debut match will be against Nepal, led by Arena himself.

Grujic will then manage the team until the AFC Asian Cup scheduled from July 24 to August 26, 2026. Laos are in Group ‘B’ of that tournament alongside Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, and Myanmar.

New players, expectations of improvement

Arena has dropped 6 players from the team that played against Laos. Forward Anjan Bista, who holds the joint record of 13 goals in a Nepal jersey alongside Hari Khadka and Nirajan Rayamajhi, has not found a berth in the Nepali squad.

Apart from him, midfielders Laken Limbu, Arik Bista, and Kushal Deuba, and forward Subash Bam are also absent. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Deep Karki, who has long been seeking an opportunity, has also failed to make the squad.

In their place, goalkeeper Yogesh Dhimal, midfielders Pemba Dorje Lama, Roman Gurung and Dipesh Gurung, and forwards Yubaraj Khadka and Milan Rai have been included for the first time.

Ayush Ghalan (right) struggles for the ball against Malaysia. Photo: ANFA

“We have analyzed well what happened in the last two to three years and will now make efforts to improve and give new players an opportunity in the national team. We have looked for new talented players keeping in mind the irregular domestic league and the situation of players going abroad,” Arena says.

His goal is to build a strong team for the SAFF Championship scheduled to be held in Bangladesh in September-October. Nepal reached the final for the first time in 2021 in that tournament, which began in 1993. But the Nepali team that made history under Kuwaiti-origin head coach Abdullah Almutairi was defeated 3-0 by India in the final. In tournaments held since then, Nepal has not been able to advance past the group stage. Arena’s goal will be to take them beyond the group stage.

“Every country’s team has room for improvement and Nepal is no different. The current priority will be to unite the team, strengthen it strategically, and get all the players aligned to the same thinking,” he says.

Let us wait and see. Today’s match will make clear just how successful Arena’s plans will be.