India U17 girls gear up for stringent Bangladesh test

India will look to e book their place within the remaining with a recreation to spare when Pamela Conti’s Beneath-17 facet tackle a powerful Bangladesh facet of their second match of the SAFF U19 Girls’s Championship on the Pokhara Rangasala Stadium right here on Monday.

Fielding their U-17 group as a part of preparations for the AFC U17 Girls’s Asian Cup in China later this yr, India started their marketing campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win over hosts Nepal.

One other victory towards Bangladesh, coupled with Bhutan failing to beat Nepal within the later kick-off, will verify India’s spot within the title conflict.

The Younger Tigresses have been pushed onerous by Nepal, with the decisive objective coming within the forty ninth minute via Pearl Fernandes, the 16-year-old striker’s tenth objective for the U17 nationwide facet.

Reflecting on her first match in cost, head coach Conti felt her gamers have been keen however nonetheless adapting to her system.

“In my humble opinion, with me being a brand new coach, the gamers had a powerful want to do extra, and to show themselves. They’re nonetheless not totally safe of their place within the group, they usually wish to present extra, which led us to make extra errors than ordinary.

“General, I’m pleased as a result of I noticed good issues. However there have been additionally issues that weren’t so good, which we have to work on. And that’s precisely why we’re right here,” she mentioned.

Regardless of the picturesque backdrop of the Annapurna Himalayan vary, the Pokhara pitch circumstances posed challenges to India’s possession-based model.

“The standard of the bottom did have an effect on us rather a lot. It makes enjoying with ball management and passing far more troublesome. We’ve technically expert gamers, and have been superior to Nepal in that side, however the circumstances positively performed their half,” the Italian added.

Consideration now shifts to Bangladesh, who stormed into the event with a commanding 12-0 win over Bhutan and are anticipated to offer a sterner bodily check.

Conti and her employees even watched their rivals in motion to evaluate their strengths.

“I believe Bangladesh are a bodily robust opponent. We have to take that under consideration. I consider that technically, we are able to damage them rather a lot if we work higher.

“However on the similar time, I all the time assume that there’s far more to work on. Whether or not you win, lose, or draw, you need to come again and say: this isn’t sufficient, we can’t be happy with what now we have.

“And for us, with little or no time working collectively, the gamers have needed to be taught a brand new system of play that now we have launched. We’ve to enhance rather a lot to attain outcomes. Which means working, particularly on the bodily facet,” she added.