KOLKATA: All that the Kosovo women's team needed to do was to aim for a draw to break the Indian hearts.
But they did more than that as a 92nd minute strike from Ereleta Memeti did not just leave the six Indian players in the box hapless but also shattered the Blue Tigresses dream of clinching a first title outside the South Asian region.
The 1-0 win in both teams' last round-robin match earned the Karin Anneli Andersen-coached Europeans consecutive Turkish Women's Cup titles at the Gold City Sports Complex in Analya, Turkey, on Tuesday.
The runners-up finish was, however, also the Indian women's best performance at the four-team tournament. India ended their campaign with six points from three games, three points behind the champions. While Chaoba Devi's wards could not take home the coveted trophy, Manisha Kalyan was awarded the Best Midfielder of the Tournament honour for her show in their three games.
Manisha created one of the first chances for an Indian breakthrough when Kosovo custodian Djellza Mehmeti had to make a diving save to her curling free-kick from outside the box.
The first opportunity to score, however, came to Soumya Guguloth who could not get the ball inside with just Mehmeti to beat. She was also gifted the best Indian chance of the second half when she miscued a volley near the goal after a perfect long cross from Manisha.
But for most of the game, Kosovo showed their class and were the better team on the pitch despite the fact that the four-player Indian backline, led by skipper Ashalata Devi, maintained their shape and undid the incessant attacks from the 98th-ranked Kosovo. E Panthoi Chanu was also confident under the bar as she made a few crucial saves to keep India in the game.
Chaoba, who had started with Sangita Basfore instead of Karthika Angamuthu, brought in Jyoti Chauhan and Dangmei Grace in the second half in search of the elusive winner. However, the mid-press that India employed failed to change the goalless scoreline.
While Indumathi Kathiresan lacked her usual speed and creativity in the middle, the Kosovo defence neutralised the threat from Anju Tamang and Pyari Xaxa's pace for most of the game.
In the end, with Kosovo looking to steal the title with the stalemate, Memeti produced a moment of brilliance as she dribbled past the helpless Indian defence and sent the ball past a diving Panthoi for a perfect end to their all-win campaign.
