Indian women's football team move to Bahrain for next challenge

The Indian women's football team will play another two friendlies against the Bahrain national team and the Chinese Taipei.
Indian women's football team coach Thomas Dennerby (Photo | AIFF)
Indian women's football team coach Thomas Dennerby (Photo | AIFF)

MANAMA: The Indian women's team, having played two friendlies in Dubai, UAE, will now move to Bahrain, where they will play another two friendlies against the Bahrain national team and the Chinese Taipei.

The team has already faced UAE (4-1) and Tunisia (0-1) in the two matches in Dubai, and will now travel to Bahrain on Thursday, October 7 for the next leg of their friendlies. After playing the two friendlies, the Indian women's team will then fly out to Sweden, where they are set to face two Dammalsvenskan (tier 1) sides.

Looking back at the two friendlies in Dubai ahead of the team's departure to Bahrain, head coach Thomas Dennerby said, "We should have won the game against Tunisia with a couple of goals. We created around 7-8 chances and totally dominated the game, while the penalty that they scored was the only chance they had in the 90 minutes."

"We need to be better focused and concentrate on converting our chances, going ahead into the upcoming games," he continued.

Pyari Xaxa, who has been one of the leading performers for India in the last couple of games, believes that the friendlies that the team is playing is helping the players regain a lot of their match-day confidence.

"Getting the match experience is good for us. Sometimes you are not used to pace when you play after some time, but once you keep playing, you tend to grow more confident about what to do in different situations," said Xaxa.

"Perhaps we are the sole team playing an international match during the conditions which are prevalent worldwide currently. These matches help you grow as a team. It felt good to win the first game, and it felt equally bad when we lost the second one. As a team, you need to learn how to deal with these situations and try to come back from it. It's all about how we pick ourselves up and try and improve before the next game," she pointed.

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