HARPAL SINGH BEDI
The senior women’s national team head coach Maymol Rockyon on Wednesday promised a better showing by India in a two away FIFA International friendlies against Vietnam on November 3 and 6.
The team that has won the SAFF Women’s Championship, impressed in the AFC Olympic Qualifiers Round 2 and finished third in the COTIF Cup in Spain this year, set camp in New Delhi for six days before flying off to Vietnam.
Maymol Rocky believes that the team has now reached the point where they need to play higher-ranked opposition like Vietnam (34, as compared to India’s 57), in order to further improve.
“I think this is the first time that we will play against Vietnam. It’s all about playing against higher-ranked teams so that we can further improve ourselves,” the coach opined
While the team prepares for the two matches against Vietnam, which are set to be held on November 3 and November 6, the head coach constantly had one eye on the 2022 Asian Cup Qualifiers next year.
“Right now, our efforts are to match them and be better than them. It’s only when we play better teams that we can gauge our strengths and weaknesses,” she said adding “Our main aim is to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup. We need to have patience and keep improving at the same time,” Captain and centre-back Ashalata Devi was of the view that although Vietnam is a higher-ranked side, the hard work put in by the Indian girls will manifest into results on the pitch.
“Obviously Vietnam are a much higher-ranked team than us. But this doesn’t mean that we can’t beat them,” said the captain, “We have been working really hard and improving, so we will be up for the fight.”Her fellow centre-back Sweety Devi feels that the responsibility will be on the two of them to organise the team from the back.”It’s not going to be easy, playing against Vietnam, and as defenders, the responsibility will be on Asha di and me to organise the team,” she said. “But having someone as experienced as her at the back helps a lot, as she reads the game and instructs everyone accordingly. I think if we all fight together, keep ourselves calm, and stick to the plan, we can get good results out of Vietnam.” The squad: Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Panthoi Chanu, M Linthoingambi Devi.
Defenders: Jabamani Tudu, Ashalata Devi, Michel Castanha, Sweety Devi, Ranjana Chanu, W Linthoingambi Devi.
Midfielders: Roja Devi, Grace Lalrampari, Karthika Angamuthu, Manisha, Ratanbala Devi, Ritu Rani, Sangita Basfore, Sanju, Sumithra Kamaraj.
Forwards: Anju Tamang, Dangmei Grace, Daya Devi, Bala Devi, Renu Head Coach: Maymol Rocky