It will be the last match on their South American sojourn. And the Indian women’s team would be eager to put on display the lessons learnt and the improvements attained on the tour when they face Venezuela at Arena da Amazonia in the early hours of Thursday, Indian time.
Playing against top-class teams in women’s football — like Brazil and Chile — has been by far the most rigorous challenge of a year of exposure trips in the build-up to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
But while former Brazil, ranked No. 7 in the world, and the 37th-ranked Chile were tactically far superior to the 57th-ranked Indians, the Venezuelans are ranked just above them on FIFA charts. But the brand of football in offing wouldn’t be much different and the Ashalata Devi-led side can’t afford to let their guards down in the last encounter of the Torneio Internacional de Futebol Feminino.
“Venezuela have a very similar playing style to Chile. They (Chile) are very comfortable on the ball and have a good passing game. They take their time and build up from behind, so we need to be more confident as a unit,” head coach Thomas Dennerby said ahead of their crucial encounter in Manaus.
Their 0-6 and 0-3 defeats against Brazil and Chile respectively, however, had come in different fashion. While against the hosts, the Indians could not keep up the intensity at change of ends, after restricting the former World Cup runners-up to a 2-1 lead.
Against La Rojas, they succumbed to their rivals’ high press and tactical attacks, especially from the right flank, for most of the first half. The second half, where Dennerby brought in three changes, saw a more disciplined Indian unit. It was only in the dying minutes of the game that the Indians were overpowered by two quickfire counter attacks.
“The good thing is that we played as a solid and composed defensive unit for majority of the game against Chile. Yes, we made small mistakes and that cost us. But two of their goals were also of very high quality with beautiful finishing,” the Swede commented.
The Indians suffered from the lack of passes to build cohesive attacks and could keep less than 35% of possession. On the bright side, they have the speed of Manisha Kalyan — the 20-year-old who created history by scoring against a senior Brazil team — on the right wing to help build the attacks.
“Football is a running sport, and you need to drive the ball with your off the ball runs, and the girls did that in the second half (against Chile),” said Dennerby. “We need to do more of that, play a few touches, and use the speed we have in the team.”
And the Indian women might just have something more to add to the feat of a solitary goal on their Brazil tour.
