Football
Women's Football: Resilient India go down narrowly against Uzbekistan
The Indian women's team went down 1-0 against a strong Uzbekistan side in the first of their two friendlies this week.
Indian women's team (Source: AIFF/Twitter)
The Indian women's football team fell to what will be a bitterly disappointing 1-0 loss against Uzbekistan at the AGMK Stadium in Almalyk. Maymol Rocky's young-looking side was put on the backfoot for large parts of the contest even as they threatened to be decisive on the counter themselves. For the first half and much of the second, the two teams failed to dominate proceedings in midfield and although Uzbekistan did create the better chances, it was a fantastic free-kick from Maftuna Shoyimova that sealed the deal for the hosts in the 87th minute.
The game started with Uzbekistan dominating early possession and creating quite a few chances that called goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan into action. However, none of those opportunities found the back of the net as India escaped narrowly every time. One shot hit the bar while another one did the same before its rebound almost found the net. Then it was India's turn to create a couple of decent openings as Indumathi Kathiresan, Sangita Basfore and Dangmei Grace led the charge to try and prise the Uzbek defence open. However, the score remained goalless at half-time.
The second half saw both teams come out all guns blazing and trying to put one past the opponents. But neither side could find the composure to string together a decent passing move. Then India spurned the best opportunity of the match. Indumathi was put through on goal by a neat pass from the back but the captain still had to cover a significant distance owing to the Uzbek's high defensive line. She did that brilliantly but her shot lacked the power to test the goalkeeper who dived to her left and made an easy save.
India were made to rue that missed opportunity when in the 87th minute, Shoyimova scored a world-class goal from a free-kick (1-0). She stepped up to take the shot from about 30 yards away but still found the power and precision to beat Aditi Chauhan, who was arguably India's best player, comfortably.
Although the girls would be extremely disappointed with the final score, it bodes well for us that we gave tough competition to a side that we haven't managed to beat in 18 years. Maymol Rocky and her wards can definitely take heart from this performance, work on their shortcomings and regroup ahead of the next test against Belarus on 8th April.
