Indian Women’s Football Team to play friendlies against Uzbekistan and Belarus next month

The Indian women’s national football team will travel to Uzbekistan to play two friendly matches against the hosts and Belarus next month.

The matches have been arranged by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in order to ensure that the players get significant match practice in the build-up to the 2022 AFC Women’s Asia Cup that is going to be held in India.

The Continental Championships are scheduled to be played between January 20 and February 6. The men did get the chance to kick off the domestic season with the Indian Super League (ISL) and the I-League but the women didn’t get any competitive match practice for a long time. Only a training camp was organized under head coach Maymol Rocky in Goa, back in December.

But things have started getting better for them as they played three friendlies in Turkey in February. So the trip to Uzbekistan will be their second overseas tour this year. The results from their tour to Turkey — 0-2 to  Serbia, 0-8 to Russia and 2-3 to Ukraine — were quite disappointing, though. However, coach Rocky believes that it was still a great learning experience for the team as they played against stronger opponents.

“Playing against strong European teams will help us prepare for the Asian Cup,” Rocky was quoted as saying by Goal.com. “These experiences will be vital for the girls in these two years. The two months in the camp allowed the girls to get back into shape both physically and mentally for International football.”

India will play Uzbekistan and Belarus on April 5 and 8 respectively. Although they aren’t exactly the strongest of opponents, playing against them will obviously give the Indian eves some much needed action and that will obviously be much better than just sitting idle.

“After the pandemic, we have been in camp (in Goa) for almost four months now, and the team is really gelling well together. Both Uzbekistan and Belarus are strong sides, and will provide ample challenge to the girls in the two friendlies,” said Rocky while announcing the 23-member squad for the trip.

SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Sowmiya Narayansamy, M Linthoingambi Devi

Defenders: Jabamani Tudu, Ashalata Devi, Sweety Devi, Ritu Rani, Ranjana Chanu, W Linthoingambi Devi, Kritina Devi, Anju Tamang

Midfielders: Indumathi Kathiresan, Manisha, Sangita Basfore, Martina Thokchom, Pyari Xaxa, Dangmei Grace, Soumya Guguloth

Forwards: Renu, Karishma Purushottam Shirvoikar, Sandhiya Ranganathan, Sumati Kumari, Heigrujam Daya Devi