The potential players for the Indian women’s football team are presently undergoing training in Hyderabad, gearing up for their upcoming two international friendly matches against Uzbekistan.
India is scheduled to participate in two international friendly matches against Uzbekistan on May 31 and June 4. Last year, the Blue Tigresses played against Uzbekistan twice, narrowly losing both matches with scores of 2-3 and 0-1, respectively.
Women’s football in India underwent a transformation in the 2023-24 season, marked by the Indian Women’s League being conducted on a home-and-away basis for the first time. This change extended the league over four months.
India captain Loitongbam Ashalata Devi believes that this adjustment has significantly benefited the players as they approach the May-June international window for women.
“We have so many junior players this time that there’s a certain energy in the camp. We have all been playing for five-six months, starting with the IWL, followed by the Senior Women’s NFC,” Ashalata told the-aiff.com. “One can clearly see that the players are all in the right fitness zone, which is always helpful before international matches. It means we can concentrate more on technical and tactical training before the matches.”
Midfielder Karthika Angamuthu also conveyed her excitement about commencing a national camp with all the players already in peak condition.
“After the IWL we had a week’s rest before the Nationals (Senior Women’s NFC for Rajmata Jijabai Trophy). I think everyone’s had just the right balance of practice and rest for the last five months, so all the players look fit and fresh,” said Karthika.
Speaking about their opponents Uzbekistan, Ashalata said, “Uzbekistan are a strong team though we have played quite a few matches against them in recent years. They seem to have changed the way they operate, however, since their Japanese coach (Midori Honda) took over.”
“They used to play a lot of direct football before, with a lot of long, aerial balls to break down the opponents. They have now adopted a more technical game, where they like to keep the ball on the ground and play it between each other,” she said. “We did reasonably well against them last year, but we have to be prepared to play our best game in these two matches.”
On May 17, during their first training session, the team received a visit from former India captains Shabbir Ali and Victor Amalraj. Blue Tigresses’ forward Anju Tamang expressed her delight at the chance to meet these two Indian football legends.
“The training sessions have been great thus far, and we were all glad to have been visited by Shabbir sir and Victor sir before our first training session,” said Tamang. “I’ve never had the opportunity to meet them before, though I’ve read a lot about them online. They are living legends for us, and we got a lot of motivation from them. They encouraged us to train hard and focus on getting the results in the two matches,” she said.
The Blue Tigresses are coming off their most successful outing in the Turkish Women’s Cup, where they secured the runners-up position in a tournament that featured teams like Estonia (4-3), Hong Kong (2-0), and Kosovo (0-1). Ashalata remarked, “Our team is making significant progress. The results in the Turkish Women’s Cup demonstrate this, as we performed admirably against quality European teams. It’s crucial for us to continue competing in such matches during international windows to enhance our skills. Playing against such teams teaches us a lot, from tactics and formations to decision-making.”
“Yes, we lost against Kosovo in our last match, but the fact that we managed to hold such a strong team till injury time speaks a lot. It’s the small things that make the difference against such teams, and our girls are also learning them,” said Ashalata.
Indian senior women’s team friendly fixtures in Tashkent:
May 31: Uzbekistan vs India
June 4: Uzbekistan vs India.