CHENNAI: When 2020 began, India’s women’s U-17 team would have expected to be spending May feverishly preparing to play in a World Cup that would have been just months away. Instead, due to the coronavirus outbreak, they find themselves another year away from the tournament.
They’re also apart from their coach for the time being with Thomas Dennerby beating a hasty retreat back home to Sweden. The Swedish government had flown Dennerby, who had guided the country’s national women’s team to a third-place finish at the 2011 World Cup, back home towards the end of March.
However, Dennerby is looking forward to being reunited with his team once the outbreak is contained. Speaking at a webinar on Indian women’s football, organised by Hafele Group and powered by PIFA Foundation, Dennerby revealed that he has been keeping an eye on the girls from afar.
“Every day, I connect with the girls on my cellphone. They have fitness programmes for endurance and workouts for strength training. From the reports that I have been sent, I can see that they are doing 5-6 sessions a week. So I’m not so worried about the fitness levels when they come back. I hope it will be good or even better. But of course, we miss some time together, to work on tactics and game plans. But I hope we can handle that also.”
Dennerby, who started his career at Hammarby — the club co-owned by Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic — knows that, among others, his girls will face mental hurdles. He revealed that he has had chats with them regarding handling the pressure of playing in a World Cup. “You have to be honest and understand that before the first game we will play in the World Cup, some of the players will be nervous,” he said. “Some players will be so nervous, they will feel ill. When it’s time, they will do what they have prepared for a long time. They have the chance to show the world that they can play good football.
“I used to say to them, if someone should ask me to go to the field and sing a song, I will feel extremely nervous. But if someone asks me to play football, I will go straight and play, because that is what I can do. It’s all about preparation. There is no shortcut, it’s all hard work.”
The one thing that Dennerby is worried about is how many games his side will get to play before the World Cup. Even when he is allowed to rejoin the team and resume preparations, it remains to be seen if the girls can travel outside for exposure tours or if other teams can come to India and play them.
“The most important thing — the only thing that worries me a little — is how much exposure we can have. Will there be any team to play? Because I really want to play teams that are a little bit higher-ranked than us. That way we can improve, play at a higher pace, have fewer touches of the ball and develop quick decision-making skills. To do that, you need to play really good teams.”
That was the kind of exposure that India got when Sweden and Thailand came down to play them in Mumbai. From the games — India lost to Sweden twice but managed to beat Thailand — it was clear to Dennerby where his wards need to improve. “The first game against Sweden was very good,” he said.
“We could have scored. The Swedish team was very nervous. The game against Thailand, we played well for 75-80 minutes. We should have scored 2-3 but we couldn’t finish. That’s one thing we need to work on. At the World Cup, we are not going to get 7-8 chances to score.”