September 27, 2024
Bhutan is a landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas, between China to the north and India to the south. It has a population of just over 700,000, with an estimated 75% being Buddhists, and the capital is Thimphu.
Bhutan is frequently described as the happiest place in the world, and the motto “Home of Happiness” is regularly in use.
Bhutan National Team
Bhutan are currently 184th in FIFA’s rankings and in the past year have recorded home victories over Hong Kong ( 2-0 ) and Bangladesh ( 1-0 ).
They made global headlines in 2002 when they famously played Montserrat in a game referred to as “The Other Final”. On the same day that Brazil and Germany met in the 2002 World Cup Final in Japan, FIFA’s two lowest ranked side played each other in Thimphu, with Bhutan eventually running out 4-0 winners after a close first half. Both sides have significantly improved since then.
Bhutan Premier League
The Bhutan Premier League was founded in 2012, initially with all matches played in the 15,000 Changlimithang National Stadium in Thimphu.
The league currently consists of ten clubs, and whilst the six based in the capital play all their matches at the National Stadium, the other four sides now play at their home grounds so there are now genuine home and away fixtures.
Paro FC are the current champions and have won the title on four occasions. Transport United and Thimphu City have both won the league twice.
Paro FC
Paro is 50 kilometres from Thimphu but the journey takes 1 hours 20 minutes by road, and the country’s only International Airport is located in Paro. It is recognised as one of the most difficult airports in the world to land at, and pilots need to be licenced to do so. The airport is served by only two local airlines, Drukair and Bhutan Airlines. A sound of a jet aircraft landing was heard near the end of today’s match so the ground can’t be far from the Airport !
Paro FC were founded in 2018 and won the league in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. They have played three times in the AFC Cup without winning a match, but they did eliminate Defenders from Sri Lanka on away goals in 2020. This season they are participating in the rebranded AFC Challenge League and won their qualifying round match, beating Church Boys United 2-1 in Nepal with goals from Wangchuk and Okopu.
They are now in a group with East Bengal from India, Nejmeh from Lebanon and Bashundhara Kings from Bangladesh. Each team will play each other once, and all matches will be played in Thimphu towards the end of October.
Paro went into today’s fixture leading the table by five points ahead of Thimphu City, with just three games remaining. Although they must travel to Thimphu City for their last fixture, two wins before that would secure the title.
At the start of today they possessed a 13-1-1 record, with the dropped points coming against Transport United ( 1-1 at home and 0-1 away ). Thimphu City had been beaten 4-1 in Paro.
Paro’s last match had been a 7-1 victory at Pheuntsholing Heroes, in which Ghanaian forward Richard Gadze scored six times, referred to as a double hat-trick, and Ghanaian midfielder Evan Asante was the other goal scorer. Gadze had previously played for Azeri sides Zira & Sumgayit, Sheriff Tiraspol, HJK Helsinki and Voluntari in Romania, and was the league’s leading scorer with 24 goals. Asante had found the net 12 times and 44-year-old Japanese attacking midfielder Kazuo Homma was next on 10 goals. Homma had played for sides in Serbia, Hungary ( including Ferencvaros ) and Laos, as well as in his homeland.
Other foreigners in the Paro squad included former Ghanaian Under 20 international forward William Okopu, Montengrin centre-back Marko Ivanovic, who has had a nomadic career playing in Malta, Lithuania, Mongolia, Cambodia, Nepal and the second level in Montenegro, Japanese defender Tomoyuki Unno, who had played for Erchim in Mongolia and several sides in Thailand, and Japanese striker Koki Narita, who had played for Taichung Futuro in Taiwan and in Thailand.
The Paro squad contained a number of full Bhutan internationals. Keeper Sherab Gyeltshen had won 3 caps, winger and captain Kinga Wangchuk ( 1 cap ), centre-back Karma Chetrim ( 1 cap ), midfielders Tshelthrim Nameyel ( 10 caps ), Yeshi Dorji ( 5 caps ) & Lobzang Chogyal ( 5 caps ) plus full-back Nima Tshering ( 4 caps ).
Royal Thimphu College ( RTC )
The Royal Thimphu College is a private college in Thimphu affiliated to the University of Bhutan, and like all the other Thimphu based teams, its football side play their home games in the National Stadium
RTC first competed in the Premier League in 2022, when they finished in 4th place, which they repeated in 2023. At the start of today they were also in 4th place, level on points with Transport United but having played one game more. They had an 8-5-2 record and were on an unbeaten run of eight games. One of the defeats had come in the first meeting with Paro, where they lost 0-3 at home, whilst the other loss was 0-1 at home to lowly BFF Academy Under 19s.
They were unbeaten away from home, albeit with five draws and two wins, but they had taken four points from second placed Thimphu City ( 1-0 at home and 1-1 away ).
As befitting a college side, all their squad are under 23 years of age, and there were no foreigners.
Their last outing had been a 4-1 home victory over bottom of the table Daga United, in which Jigme Tshultrim had notched a hat-trick and their other goal was an own goal.
Left-back Sherub Dorji was their most experienced international with 11 caps. Centre back Yeshu Gyeltshen had appeared once for the national side, as had midfielder Kelzang Jigme. Keeper Dendup Namgyel and defender Kinley Gyeltshen were called up to the most recent national squad but are still to make their debuts.
Matchday Information
The match was being played at the Woochu Sports Arena in Paro, which has an official capacity of 1,000 and an artificial surface. Behind both goals were open concrete terraces, whilst on the far side opposite the camera were two small, covered stands, one of which held about a dozen spectators and the other about 40 people. Around 50 or so spectators were watching either side of these stands under umbrellas.
It was raining at the 15.00 local time kick-off ( 10.00 am in the UK ) and the temperature was around 17 degrees.
The match was being live streamed on the FIFA+ website, the HomeOfHappinessLeague YouTube channel and Bet365.com, who made Paro 1/6 favourites, with RTC at 11/1 and the draw at 13/2.
Paro played in red shirts with a black pattern over one shoulder, with black shorts and red socks. RTC were in a QPR style blue and white hoops with white shorts and blue socks.
RTC made two changes from their last match, with Mongur and Rabsel replacing Rabyang and Tshewang. For Paro, their only change was Tshering coming in for Kezang Dorji.
Match Report
The FIFA+ stream started late and then almost immediately the picture froze. It came back just in time to see a right-wing cross fizz across the face of the RTC goalmouth and off for a goal-kick. Shortly after, Asante cut in from the right and played a pass across the 18-yard line to Wangchuk, who stepped past Rabsel and was then brought down for an obvious penalty. Gadze stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way from the spot. 1-0 after 6 minutes.
In the 10th minute, a careless pass close to the half-way line was latched onto by Wangchuk, who played a reverse pass to put Gadze clear, but the Ghanaian’s stabbed shot was blocked by the keeper’s legs as he spread himself, and when the loose ball was fired goalwards by Homma it was blocked by a covering defender.
The visitors won a corner after 14 minutes, but it came to nothing, and Asante embarked on a long pacy run from his own area, ghosting past Chozang as if he wasn’t there, but Nima Gyeltshen was back covering to put the ball out at the expense of a corner.
The home side remained on top as the rain continued to fall heavily. Asante played a forward ball to Gadze, who flicked the ball in the direction of Homma, whose 20-yard effort burst through the attempted push by keeper Namgyel, hit the bar and went over for a corner.
After 25 minutes RTC were finally seen as an attacking force as Rabsel was played into space on the right, but his shot from a tight angle was deflected by Chetrim sliding in, and the ball went off for a corner. Chetrim was then called upon to head off for another corner, which was dealt with by the Paro defence.
At the other end Paro won a corner, and after it was partially cleared, Asante showed some good trickery on the left, but his cross was cleared.
A flowing Paro move ended with Gadze’s ambitious back-heel going to no-one, then a shot from Gadze from 12 yards took a deflection and was tipped over the bar by Namgyel. Asante rose the highest beyond the back post to get a head to the corner, and Namgyel made a flying save, but the referee adjudged that Asante had fouled Yeshu Gyeltshen.
Five minutes before the break, the Paro keeper collided with a team-mate in trying to catch a harmless cross from Chozang and Dorji was forced to hoof clear. Paro regained possession and Gadze slipped the ball through for Asante to run onto, but Namgyel was out quickly to push away for a corner.
Homma’s clever flick gave Asante the opportunity to step inside past a defender, but his touch was heavy, and a defender was able to clear but only as far as just outside the penalty area, where Tshultrim bundled over Homma for a free-kick and the first yellow card of the game. Homma smashed the free kick into the defensive wall, and the referee blew for half-time shortly after.
Paro were fully deserving their lead at the break and RTC had offered very little going forward.
The home had the first chance of the second period. Asante made progress on the right and when his forward ball deflected to Gadze, the striker spread the ball wide to the left, with Namgyel stepping over the ball to allow it to run onto Wangchuk, whose shot was heading for the top corner until it was pushed away by the RTC keeper at his near post.
Out of the blue a passing move saw RTC grab an equaliser. Chozang’s pull back found Tshultrim unmarked inside the Paro area, and his first time left-footed effort took a slight deflection of Unno to hit the back of the net. 1-1 with 49 minutes played.
Parity didn’t last for long though as three minutes later Gadze and Homma combined in midfield for Homma to spread play to Wangchuk on the left, and his pinpoint cross enabled Namgyel to glance into the corner from 8 yards. 2-1 with 52 minutes on the clock.
The visitors were looking much more potent than they had been in the first half, and Dorji released Jigme overlapping on the left. The cross could only be headed up in the air but Dorji following up headed over the bar.
The game was now end-to-end with Dorji particularly prominent on the left for RTC, and for Paro Wangchuk sent another ball across the visitors’ 6 yard line but Homma wasn’t able to reach it.
The impressive Asante beat two defenders, but his cross was blocked. Yeshi Dorji’s follow-up cross was headed away towards the corner flag where Wangchuk retrieved the ball and laid it back to the edge of the area, where Chogyal comically attempted to shoot left-footed but only succeeded in missing the ball and falling over !
RTC broke but Tshultrim’s overly optimistic 35-yard effort was straight at the keeper and easily saved. Dorji then made another strong run and released Chozang to get to the left-hand byline, but the cross was cleared.
Tamdin Dorji then got into a good position for Paro, but Gadze’s attempt to head his cross back across goal stayed in play.
In the 62nd minute RTC’s Chozang’s ball from the right reached Nima Gyeltshen beyond the far post but from a tight angle, he could only blaze left footed over the bar
It looked to have perhaps been a costly miss as Paro extended their lead four minutes later. Okopu received a pass from Asante and although his first effort was blocked by Kinley Gyeltshen, he then stepped past a defender and hammered passed the keeper from just inside the area. 3-1 after 66 minutes.
RTC were not going to lie down and accept defeat though and Tshultrim’s 20 yard left footed drive was diverted off by Chetrim for a corner, which was wasted.
Paro brought on Montenegrin defender Ivanovic, who looked huge in comparison with all the other players on the field. The change had the opposite to the desired impact for Paro and they conceded a goal almost immediately. Yeshi Dorji failed to cut-out Tshultrim’s through ball leaving Nima Gyeltshen clear, and this time he cooly finished from 12 yards. 3-2 with 70 minutes played.
RTC searched for an equaliser as the rain continued to fall but a 40-yard effort went closer to the corner flag than to the goal.
However, Paro were looking just as likely to score another goal and Okopu and Gadze twice exchanged first time passes to give Gadze a sight of goal but his shot was bravely saved by Namgyel advancing off his line.
RTC’s Dorji continued to catch the eye, this time running through the middle to feed Chozang, whose 25 yard effort went a yard wide.
Paro looked to have put the game to bed when they scored their fourth goal. RTC failed to clear a long ball from Ivanovic, and the ball was played in from the right to Gadze, who fired home left- footed from 14 yards for his second goal of the game. 4-2 with 86 minutes on the clock.
Okupu then sent a free kick under the wall but it was at the RTC keeper who made an easy save. Back down the other end, Ivanovic needs to produce a sliding tackle to prevent Tshultrim getting clear. With normal time just up, Jigme ran past two markers and sent a long range effort arrowing into the far bottom corner. 4-3 with 90 minutes played.
With five added minutes to be played, Paro potentially faced a nervous time to hold onto their lead but RTC were unable to create any pressure or fashion any more chances, so Paro took the three points. A win in their next game at home to BFF Academy Under 19 would clinch the title for Paro irrespective of the results of Thimphu City in their final three game. RTC remained in fourth place.
Overall, it was an entertaining game to watch with both sides trying to play neat, passing football.
Paro FC : S. Gyeltshen – Tshering, Unno ( Ivanovic ), Chetrim, T. Dorji – Asante ( Narita ), T. Namgyel ( Y. Dorji ), Chogyal, Homma ( Okupu ), Wangchuk – Gadze
Royal Thimphu College FC : D. Namgyel - Rabsel, K. Gyeltshen, Y. Gyeltshen, S. Dorji – Chozang, Jigme, Gurung, Tshultrim, N. Gyeltshen - Monger
No comments:
Post a Comment