Yangon (Myanmar), July 8 (IANS) The Indian senior women’s team touched down in Myanmar on Sunday night ahead of the first of their two friendlies against the hosts on Tuesday at the Thuwunna Stadium. This will be India’s second consecutive FIFA women’s international match window in which the team faces a higher-ranked opponent. Myanmar is ranked 54th in the world, while India are 67th. The Blue Tigresses had previously faced 48th-ranked Uzbekistan in Tashkent on May 31 and June 4, losing 0-3 and drawing 0-0, respectively.
“Myanmar are a good side and we are ready to face them. It’s going to be a high-intensity encounter. We don’t need to play a defensive game, we can play attacking football and my girls are perfectly capable of doing so,” said head coach Langam Chaoba Devi to the AIFF Media Team.
India began their training camp at the AIFF National Centre of Excellence in Kolkata on June 26 with 29 players before Chaoba narrowed it down to a 23-member squad on Saturday for the Myanmar tour.
“Overall, the camp went well, though some days were difficult because of a few injuries. But we have managed to overcome them and are ready to face the challenges in Myanmar,” said skipper Loitongbam Ashalata Devi.
India are winless in all five of their meetings with Myanmar so far, losing four and drawing the most recent one 3-3 in the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers in Mandalay in 2019. Sandhiya Ranganathan, Sanju, and Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi, all of them part of the current squad as well, scored in that fixture.
Before that, India suffered defeats on each of the four occasions at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers (2013), AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers (2015, 2018) and the Gold Cup (2019).
Elaborating on their experience of facing their tough neighbours, Ashalata said, “We’ve played against them before, so we have an idea about them. Myanmar are strong and physically tough. Their mobility and speed are also good.”
However, it’s been over five years since India last faced Myanmar, and the captain believes these two games will mark a fresh start in this rivalry.
As far as their recent form is concerned, Myanmar have been out of action since the Asian Games in China last September. They were knocked out of the group stage after losing to the Korea Republic (0-3) and the Philippines (0-3), and their only win came against Hong Kong (1-0). Before that, Myanmar finished runners-up to Vietnam in the Southeast Asian Games.
“Competing against better and higher-ranked opponents is always an advantage. It leaves us with the opportunity to learn more and change strategies according to different situations as we did against Uzbekistan. I’m sure we’ll learn a lot from the Myanmar games too,” Ashalata concluded.
–IANS
aaa/bsk/
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
