India coach Thomas Denneby had described the three-nation Under-17 women’s football tournament in Mumbai as a perfect platform to test their level ahead of hosting next year’s Fifa U-17 World Cup in India.
After all, the team hadn’t played any top-quality opposition so far and so these two games were an opportunity to gauge what areas needed improvements.
Two games down the road, the Swede couldn’t have been more satisfied. India have lost one game, won another against Thailand and are into the final of the tournament.
Though there is still a long road ahead given that the team is still adapting to Dennerby’s philosophy, India have given a good account of themselves in both the matches they played.
They meet Sweden again on Thursday, having been beaten 0-3 in the opener. However, India would hope to make an improvement in their performance against the Swedes having missed some big chances that could have altered the result of the match. The girls though will have to keep their nerves against a technically superior team that is likely to put them under plenty of pressure.
”The difference now will is that our girls have the first game in mind. They are better aware of Sweden’s style and know how to handle them. In the first 10 minutes versus Sweden, we were a little bit anxious but we don’t have to be like that now. I hope we can manage better, ” Dennerby said ahead of the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
He declared that their opening result against Sweden was a bit harsh given how India had run them close but maintained his team had been adapting better to his ideas and system.
“We have improved over the tournament. The intensity of our game is higher and the understanding of how many easy chances you can create from taking good positions in defence has grown. We are trying to find a model where we can conserve energy in defence so that we can attack with speed and intensity,” he said.
He added, ”When we do the analysis we try to show them the good things we do on the field. The brain remembers a lot of positives things better. So we remind them this is the way to do it.”
Need for better midfield organisation
Against Sweden, there were moments where India caused them problems in the final third and were defensively compact but conceded goals due to defensive errors.
However, the midfield has been prone to errors while building play from the back. Dennerby said the team was changing its approach when organising the midfield, including when they need to press the ball.
”We’re better during positioning in midfield now. These players were used to a marking [system], so they usually ran around searching for players but we want to start our defensive play with positional defending.
So we come into to press when the ball is on its way to a player. We don’t go to a [press an opposition] player before since we can leave out spaces. And if you do that you don’t allow your opponents to take advantage of you being in bad positions. But in our box and close it, there needs to be more close marking, ” he added.
While Dennerby will be happy with the initial signs of improvement he is seeing less than two months in his tenure, passing Thursday’s litmus test will be an indicator of how quickly his team can learn from their mistakes.
