AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: Oinam Bembem Devi, former midfielder of the Indian Women’s football team, and the first Indian women's footballer to be conferred with the Padma Shri award expressed her thoughts on India's campaign in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022. 

Bembem was present at Bhubaneswar to witness India's first match against the USA and said, "I watched the first game live from the stadium and saw how our girls tried to give a fight. It was their first World Cup game and it is natural to be nervous at that age."

"The biggest positive takeaway will be – our girls did not hesitate to play against such big opponents like USA, Morocco and Brazil and we saw the team spirit they have from whistle to whistle," averred Bembem.

The Padma Shri recipient believes that our young girls should learn from the loss and work more on their weakest areas. 

"They have just started playing good football, and they should not stop anytime soon. Our results were not up to the mark, and they should learn from every game. It will help in their upcoming days," she said. 

She has always supported young girls to play the sport and urged every parent to let their children learn from the sport. "The U-17 World Cup will have a huge impact on young girls to take up the sport. I am sure they have seen how hard our girls have worked over the past few months."

The 'Durga of Indian Football' did not forget to mention what needs to be done to improve the game of these girls in the future and said," I believe the girls have huge potential and talent in them. It's just a matter of time and patience."

"They need to improve individually and have to work more on group tactics with both transitions during the matches," she concluded.

(Images Courtesy: FIFA/Getty Images)