By Debayan Mukherjee,
AIFF Media Team

DHAKA: India will have prayer on the lips and win on their minds when they take on Jordan in the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship China 2015 (Qualifiers) at the Bangabandhu Stadium on Thursday (October 23, 2014).

The Blues will first have to register a win against out-of-contention Jordan and then hope for the permutations and combinations to work in their favour.

For India to qualify, Bangladesh have to beat Iran. This will bring all three teams on nine points from three matches thus forcing a mini-table consisting of the three teams with Jordan and UAE already out of the race.

According to Asian Football Confederation (AFC) rules and regulations if two or more teams are tied on same number of points, the team with maximum points obtained in group matches between the teams concerned (here Iran, India and Bangladesh) will make the cut.

If still the teams cannot be separated, goal difference resulting from the group matches between the concerned outfits will be taken into consideration.

  

Now all this will come into the picture only if Bangladesh manage to topple Iran come Thursday, and going by the current form of the Iranians that won’t be an easy job.

Not just have the red brigade scored 17 goals in three matches; they have looked the best team in the group.

“They are a good side,” India Head Coach Maymol Rocky maintained.

“We had a good first half against them but couldn’t hold on to the momentum in the second,” she added.

On Jordan, Rocky commented that, “we need to think about our win and how many goals we can score.

“I believe we have the ammunition to boss Jordan but for that we have to put out best foot forward. Te good thing is that the girls are on a high after this big win.”

India toyed with UAE and beat them 12-0, the highest pounding they have taken so far in this Group. Jordan won’t be such a cakewalk but are not expected to give India a whole lot of trouble going by their fluctuating form.

Easily the most prepared team in the tournament – Jordan went to Germany as part of their preparation. But they did not quite rise to the expectations succumbing to a shock defeat at the hands of the hosts Bangladesh before going down meekly to a roaring Iran side 6-1.

“They were not shambolic against Iran but could not match them physically and skill wise at the end,” Rochy mused.

The kick-off on Thursday is at 1.30pm.