“Although being young we showed character, weren’t scared to.. “, Crispin Chhetri makes bold statements after India’s valiant fight against

Kolkata : Lanky tall players, gunning down towards your box and few youths with average age of 23 stopping them with might. That was the story of Indian team against Russia, despite the 4-0 loss.

Despite being young, less experienced, key players missing, rainy day and wet ground, the Blue Tigresses didn’t back away or give up. They fought with all they have especially for first 40 minutes. Even Malavika Prasad in 25th minute came very near to scoring goals but failed to succeed. But they played differently after 60 minutes and conceded 3 goals in 20 minutes. Despite the 4-0 loss, the fight will be remembered and it made Indian Head coach Crispin Chhetri draw positives and comeback strong with better plans.

“Although being young side, we showed character. We’re not scared to press, to run. We tried to do things in our control, for instance, running. In set pieces, marking was important for us. We did a pretty good job. So I think in 25 days camp, I’m quite happy with whatever performance they did today. Most positively, we showed character, didn’t give up, that’s best thing to me”.

Chhetri’s plan is bigger – the AFC 2029 Women’s Asia Cup.

He however acknowledged that the lack of competitive Football since June proved challenging, particularly against a Russian side in the middle of its league season. However, he underlined that the experience would be valuable for the young players as they continue to grow at international level.

Looking ahead to the second friendly on October 11, Chettri revealed that the team will work on improving their ability to sustain their intensity for longer periods, while also giving more opportunities to youngsters who featured in the latter stages of the first match. With the 2029 AFC Women’s Asian Cup next in sight, Chettri stressed that developing a wider pool of players remains central to the team’s progress.

“We’ve sorted things where we lacked today. Main problem was fitness which we can’t improve in 2 days so maybe from 45 minutes whatever character we show, we can carry it in 60 minutes, so it’s a step forward. I want to see few youngsters of later half, give them a start and see how they perform under pressure, hopefully in next game there’ll be a bit more people and shouts. Tactically, I won’t change anything. This is how we want to play and I think for 2029, if you want to qualify, I would rather lose now and qualify for AFC than winning here and not qualify for AFC. So I’m happy losing now and creating a good pool of players. Hopefully we’ll try to play the same pattern “, Chhetri stated.

The Indian Head coach also mentioned that rain, which along with thunderstorms made the ground wet played a big part in Indian players performing a bit lesser than their potential, as technically they’re good.

“Rain played a part, technically, we’re so good, even if the Ball comes with that speed they can control the Ball and break but for our best, I like that because certain moments we did make with that speed and control”.

The second encounter against Russia will provide another opportunity for the emerging group to gain valuable international experience and build on the lessons from the 8th October game.

“One of the reasons why I substituted senior players and putting younger players is because I just wanted to see after conceding 3 goals under pressure we can perform instead of just keeping the Ball, in patches we did good and I’m happy”, Chhetri concluded.