AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The Indian Women’s Team, having played two friendlies in Dubai, UAE, will now move to Bahrain, where they will play another two friendlies against the Bahrain National Team and the Chinese Taipei.

The team has already faced UAE (4-1) and Tunisia (0-1) in the two matches in Dubai, and will now travel to Bahrain on Thursday, October 7, 2021 for the next leg of their friendlies. After playing the two friendlies, the Indian Women’s Team will then fly out to Sweden, where they are set to face two Dammalsvenskan (tier 1) sides.

Looking back at the two friendlies in Dubai ahead of the team’s departure to Bahrain, head coach Thomas Dennerby said, “We should have won the game against Tunisia with a couple of goals. We created around 7-8 chances and totally dominated the game, while the penalty that they scored was the only chance they had in the 90 minutes.”

“We need to be better focused and concentrate on converting our chances, going ahead into the upcoming games,” he continued.

Pyari Xaxa, who has been one of the leading performers for India in the last couple of games, believes that the friendlies that the team is playing is helping the players regain a lot of their match day confidence.

“Getting the match experience is good for us was good. Sometimes you are not used to pace when you play after some time, but once you keep playing, you tend to grow more confident about what to do in different situations,” said Xaxa.

“Perhaps we are the sole team playing an International match during the conditions which are prevalent worldwide currently. These matches help you grow as a team. It felt good to win the first game, and it felt equally bad when we lost the second one. As a team, you need to learn how to deal with these situations and try to come back from it. It’s all about how we pick ourselves up and try and improve before the next game,” she continued.

Faced with the prospect of playing difficult opponents in both Bahrain and Sweden, Pyari has set her aim on winning as many matches as the team can.

“We want to win both the matches in Bahrain and then move on with the same aim in Sweden. All I want to do is win those, that’s all I have in my target,” she opined. “These matches are giving us a lot of confidence. I think more such matches like these will only help us in the long run for the AFC Asian Cup, so that we can be completely up to the pace.”

The team had come to the UAE after a month-long training camp in Jamshedpur, where they were training with infrastructural and logistical aid from the Government of Jharkhand. Pyari believes that the quality time that the players have got in the camp to get ready for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup next year will put the squad in good stead for the future.

“The camp in Jamshedpur really helped us get to the desired level of fitness to enter into such matches against competitive teams. The squad is really fit and we all feel ready to take on the opponents,” she observed.

The 23-member squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Maibam Linthoingambi Devi, Shreya Hooda.

Defenders: Dalima Chhibber, Sweety Devi, Ritu Rani, Ashalata Devi, Ranjana Chanu, Michel Castanha, Manisa Panna, Astam Oraon.

Midfielders: Sangita Basfore, Indumathi Kathiresan, Sanju, Martina Thokchom.

Forwards: Dangmei Grace, Anju Tamang,Sandhiya Ranganathan, Soumya Guguloth, Manisha Kalyan, Sumati Kumari, Pyari Xaxa, Renu.

Friendlies Schedule for the team in Bahrain:

October 10: Bahrain vs India
October 13: India vs Chinese Taipei