PERTH: India will face Japan in their second Group C match of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026 in Perth on Saturday.
The Blue Tigresses sit at third in the group, after their 1-2 defeat to Vietnam. Japan meanwhile beat Chinese Taipei 2-0.
India have had two days to recover from their match against Vietnam, and getting her players back into prime condition for the Japan encounter is high on head coach Amelia Valverde’s list of priorities. “Of course, we will adapt to whatever situations arise. Right now, the first focus has been recovery, because we had a very demanding match physically," she said on Friday.
Valverde is wary of the threat that Japan, who have won the Asian Cup in 2014 and 2018, and the World Cup in 2011, pose.
“We know Japan are a team that really like to keep possession, with a lot of dynamism. They like to dominate the game, but we have to prepare our own game. We hope to deliver a strong performance, to be very competitive again, as we were last Wednesday,” said Valverde.
"I’ve mentioned in the past that the three opponents we face in our group are very different from each other,” she added. “We need to focus our energy on our own team. We want to try to manage the game and take it in the direction we believe is best, while adapting to their characteristics.”
India midfielder Sangita Basfore was intent on correcting the mistakes made in the Vietnam game, and move forward.
“We made a big effort against Vietnam, we did everything we could on the field, but now we have analysed the game and the mistakes made in it,” said Sangita. “The plan is to improve in the next game and take those learnings forward into the next match against Japan."
“I’m confident we can create chances against India. They are a strong team with great spirit, and although they were unlucky in their last game, we believe we can put them under pressure. To score, we must really commit and fight for every ball.”
