Indian women’s football team coach Thomas Dennerby has expressed his disappointment with the squad after their 0-0 draw against Iran on Thursday, after the Indians dominated the vast majority of the game, but lacked in finishing, missing many chances on the way to a frustrating goalless draw against the Iranians in the opening game of the Asia Cup.
However, the Swede also took home some positives from the game, as he felt that some clinical finishing would give them better results, as he praised his side for their dominant performance in the middle of the park.
Iran, who are ranked 70th in the world, took on the 55th placed Indians. The Iranians looked like they were taking the game away from India in the opening minutes, when they hit the woodwork. The Indians took control of the game from that moment forward, playing brilliantly for the entire 90 minutes, as their creative play was firing on all cylinders.
However, neither side was able to break the deadlock in the Group A encounter thanks to some ordinary finishing by the Indian forwards.
“Yeah, in that way I am disappointed with the result, it is what it is. It is all down to technical skills, so you are not giving goals, you have to score goals.”
coach Dennerby said about the performance in the post-match press conference.
India will take on Chinese Taipei in their next group stage encounter and would need a win to be able to qualify for the quarters. Dennerby was optimistic about the game, and believed that his side has what it takes to get the job done.
“We will try to get points from the game against Chinese Taipei. This game is over, and we cannot change the result. Manisha had a good game. We are defending well. I was a little bit surprised in the beginning when Iran looked dominant.”
When asked why experienced midfielder Kamala Devi was excluded from the side, Dennerby said that they were figuring out the best team combination would be, and since the player arrived late, there was not much time to find a suitable role for her in time for the game, and also that they needed some pace for the encounter against Iran, according to which they picked the team.
“She came into the squad a little late. We are trying to find out who is the best for every game. This time we found that we needed speed.”
said Dennerby.
