Shoubhik Mukhopadhyay

AIFF Media Team

ULAANBAATAR: Even after two back-to-back victories in the AFC U-16 Women's Championship Qualifiers against Hong Kong and Pakistan respectively, the extreme climate in Ulaanbaatar has been 'a real headache' for Coach Firmin D'Souza. India will play hosts Mongolia in their third group stage match on Friday, September 21.

“Snowfall has been going on since last night, along with heavy downpour in a few spells. It's going to be extremely challenging for us to brave this weather condition when we got out against Mongolia,” he maintained.

"Although we have played two matches already, the weather condition has only worsened since last night. Getting acclimatised to this is a real headache now,” said D’Souza. “But, we are here to represent the nation and we will take everything in a positive way."

He further added, “Our primary focus is to stay mentally strong. Otherwise, we can't counter these sort of difficulties.”

The meteorological department has predicted that the mercury level will go below minus 3 degrees Celsius in the next 24 hours with a few spells of rain.

On the other hand, Mongolia, having accumulated 3 points from as many matches, are fourth on the table and they are going to play their final game in the first round of the qualifying stage against India on Friday.

D'Souza, who followed their opponents closely over the course of the tournament, stated, “They (Mongolia) play a good brand of football, using every corner of the pitch. Their ground passing and movement during the game is really amazing. The first touch is something which they have adapted well and some of their players are very good dribblers as well.

“They have an extremely talented midfielder who can fire it from long range,” he added. “As of now, we have no major injury concern, but one of our players is a bit unwell due to the extreme weather conditions.”

As per the new nomenclature of the AFC U16 Women's Championship, six group champions along with two second-best teams across the six groups will get the nod to progress to the second qualifying round.

Eventually, four teams will join DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Japan and Thailand in the finals which will be hosted by Thailand in 2019.

Firmin added: "When only one team is going to qualify for the next stage, you ought to feel a little bit of pressure and nervousness. Nevertheless, it doesn't really affect once the game kicks off."

India have smacked as many as 10 goals in two matches so far and D'Souza expressed that they won't deviate from their free-flowing attacking football on Friday, although they will need to maintain the shape at the back to come out with a clean sheet.

“We have scored 10 goals and our girls have shown their proficiency in attack. While utilising that, we have to stay alert at the back, so that we don't concede a goal. The result matters at the end of the day, and we are hopeful that we will garner another positive result tomorrow."

The match is slated to kick-off at 2.30pm IST, and will be streamed live on Mycujoo TV.