India to face Nepal in women’s SAFF U-18 football opener

It’s been a little under two months since the Indian senior women’s football team endured a crushing exit from a prestigious continental event that was the biggest in the players’ careers. A Covid-19 outbreak within the bio-bubble, which surged from two positives to double figures within 72 hours, led to disqualification for the hosts from the AFC Asian Cup after a solitary game as they were unable to field the minimum required players.

The players—struggling to deal with the heartbreak—dispersed for home after completing the mandatory isolation period. Swedish head coach Thomas Dennerby too left, spending time with his family to get over the “nightmare”, as he described the saga.

After the much-needed break, the 62-year-old is back in India, taking charge of the U-18 side that will compete in the SAFF U-18 Women’s Championship in Jamshedpur starting on Tuesday (March 15-25), in the build-up to the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India in October.

Dennerby has moved on from the disappointment with the senior national side, which had trained for most of 2021 staying in bubbles at camps and exposure tours.

“It was good to have a break after the Asian Cup,” he said. “We had spent a lot of time in the camp, inside the bubble, and it was important to get our heads away from football and be with our loved ones.”

The turnaround has been quick, and the target redrawn aimed at the rescheduled U-17 World Cup. 

“The plan was always to take a short break (after the Asian Cup) and come back to prepare the team for the U-17 World Cup. The U-17 girls had already been preparing under Suren Chettri in Jamshedpur, and my assistant coach Alex Ambrose had done great to scout quality players from all over India,” Dennerby said.

Once the SAFF tournament ends, Dennerby has called a week-long national camp of the senior group in Goa from March 28 to April 3. The Indian women’s League, the premier domestic league, is also slated to begin next month. There can be nothing quite like getting back on the field for the bunch of women who couldn’t do that for their second group game at the Asian Cup.

“It’s always important for footballers to not be away from the pitch for too long,” Dennerby said. “The (senior) team has been training together since last year, and all of us coaches have been in touch, monitoring the progress of the players and the team as a whole.”

The U-18 SAFF tournament—India face Nepal in the opener on Tuesday before playing Bangladesh (March 19), Nepal (March 21) and Bangladesh (March 25)—is a step in the process of preparing a unit for the World Cup; although not all in this squad will make the cut for the U-17 age group.

“We want to have four good performances. We want the players to start understanding and learning how we want to play as a team, both in defence and attack,” the coach said of his objectives for the SAFF tournament. 

“Ten of the players in the current squad are 2004 born. Still, we have 13 players who could play in the World Cup, and it will be a good experience for them. The process of preparing the team for the World Cup started long ago; now we will take it one game at a time.”

Shilky Devi, who was in the Asian Cup squad, is the lone member in this U-18 side while Astam Oraon and Martina Thokchom were part of the senior team camps before the AFC event. “These girls bring in some very good experience into the U-18 squad,” Dennerby said.