Hosts India will need to be more clinical with their finishing when they face a struggling Chinese Taipei in a must-win group match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 in Mumbai on Sunday. (More Football News)
India were held to a goalless dr⛄aw by lower-ranked Iran in their tournament opener, while Chinese Taipei wer🧜e blanked 4-0 by eight-time champions China.
A FIFA World Cup play-offs spot within their grasp, India are seeking to meet their head coach Thomas Dennerby's ‘realistic൲ target’ of making the quarterfinals, for which they will need to win the next match at all costs, as the home team is scheduled to play Group A heavyweights China in ꦉits last league fixture.
A win for India, who is hosting the continental showpiece for the second time after 1979, will virtually send the country into the quarterfinals of the 12-nation tou🅺rnament. For the record, besides the two top teams, two third-placed sides across the three groups will also qualify for the quarterfinals.
All the semi-finalists of the ongoing tournament will directly qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Two 💞more teams from the remaining four quarterfinalists will also get direct berths to the World Cup if Australia make it to the semifinals of this tournament, which is highly probable.
That🅺 means even the teams that lose in the quarterfinals can directly qualify for the World Cup if they win the play-off matches of the AFC Asian Cup on F♏ebruary 2 and 4. The two losing quarterfinalists will feature in the Intercontinental play-offs.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian team had the luxury of a good number of exposure tours and international matches last year, including against former World Cup runners-up side Brazil and that kept the team in good steaꦕd against Iran, against whom they created a plethora of chances.
On Sunday, they would✅ be desperate to score their first goal of the marquee tournament. Ahead of the match against Chinese🔯 Taipei, Dennerby had said that his side needed ‘a few tweaks’ to its attack.
“We have to work on our finishing and go at it again in the second match against Chinese Taipei and get the three points. I think we have a solid defence, defended well when-ever they (Iran) counter-attacked.
“A few tweaks to our attack and we will be ready for our next opponents,” the 62-year-old Swede said. The ಌhosts are playing without their star striker Bala Devi, who is rec𒆙overing from surgery, but they still dominated most of the 90 minutes against Iran.
For India, the experienced Aditi Cha🌸uhan, who made her 50th international appearance, is expected to don the goal⛄keeper’s gloves again while skipper Ashalata Devi will marshal the deep defence. Chauhan was able to keep a clean sheet in the first game and is hoping for a similar outing.
The likes of Indumathi Kathiresan and Anju Tamang will man the midfield, while Manisha Kalyan, who scored India's lone goal against Brazil recently, can be expected to be India's trumpꦍ card.
Manisha would also be very much eager to shrug off the disappointment of the last game and score the country's fi✅rst goal in this edition of the premier competition.
Seasoned midfielder Kamala Devi did not get a chance in the last outing and it remains to be seen 𓆉whether she gets an opportunity against Chinese Taipei.
Hammered by China in their first game, Chinese Taipei are ranked 39th in the world as against India's 55th, and they will have their task cut out against the hosts. In the second game of the day, China will enter as overwhe๊lming favourites against Iran at the Mumbai Football Arena.
India Squad: Aditi Chauhan, Maibam Linthoingambi Devi, Sowmiya Narayanasamy, Dalima Chhibber, Sweety Devi Ngangbam, Ritu Rani, Loitongbam Ashalata Devi, Manisa Panna, Hemam Shilky Devi, Sanju Yadav, Yumnam Kamala Devi, Anju Tamang, Karthika Angamuthu, Nongmeithem Ratanbala Devi, Naorem Priyangka Devi, Induꦰmathi Kathiresan, Manisha Kalyan, Grace Dangmei, Pyari Xaxa, Renu, Sumati Kumari, Sandhiya Ranganathan, Mariyammal Balamurugan.
