Indian women’s football team started its AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 campaign with hopeless 0-0 draw against Iran at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Thursday. India’s head coach Thomas Dennerby said before the start of the tournament that the quarter-finals were a real target for the team and for that the opener against Iran was always going to be important. Despite creating several chances, India failed to score and had to be content with one point.
dennerby The seasoned Kamala Devi and the experienced Dangmei Grace chose against starting and instead gave the start to Sandhya Ranganathan, who was often not in the starting line-up under the Swedish coach.
In the first 20 minutes of the game, Iran executed the ball-oriented passing to perfection and put India on the backfoot. However as the game progressed, India found their footing in the game and completely dominated it.
Despite having the ball, India were not decisive and clinical enough in the final third and suffered the consequences. Overall, the combination game was lacking from India, which was something that could have helped them break Iran’s compact defence.
Dennerby says he is trying to instill a possession-based style in the team, but at times on Thursday, his tendency to play the ball for long periods kicked in.
Here are the player ratings by individuals based on performance on the day:
Aditi Chauhan: 6.5/10
The Indian defense performed extremely well and did not let Aditi come under too much pressure by defending in numbers and compact size. However, a couple of times when Aditi had to be decisive, she stumbled and could have overshadowed her team.
Dalima Chhibber: 7/10
Dalima initially accepted a free kick that could have resulted in Iran’s goal in the 12th minute of the match. Overall, the right-back did quite well and did not succumb to much pressure from Iran. Dalima is responsible for leading the attack and must do better than putting one-dimensional long balls into the box. In the 66th minute, Dalima’s block stopped Iran from scoring after a mistake by Aditi.
Ashalata Devi: 8/10
The captain was solid in the back for the most part of the match and stood his ground most of the time. The state of hopelessness has a good sense of humor and, therefore, he almost never has to seek approval for last-ditch dealings.
Manisa Page: 7.5/10
Manisa is not Ashalata’s regular partner, but she did well to support her captain. Manisa has to work on taking the drama from back to front but overall, she keeps a tight line and covers Aditi well.
Sanju Yadav: 6.5/10
Sanju is a forward who has been in the left-back position for quite some time now and it doesn’t really work for him much. Sanju, who was a fast forward when she joined the team, has lost her momentum and is unable to keep a tight defensive cover. Where he is better is in getting the ball up the pitch. A missed header from Sanju in the 19th minute could not have been costly for India, but Negin Zandi kept the shot wide and India were not punished.
Ratanbala Devi: 5/10
Ratanbala had little impact on the game and was almost invisible on the pitch. Ratanbala’s lack of initiative meant that Anju and Indumati had to take on more responsibility for tailoring the attack.
Anju Tamang: 7/10
Anju had the responsibility of keeping her ground in the midfield and taking the ball forward and she played her part very well.
Kathiresan Dating: 8.5/10
Indumati was India’s best player that day. She was the one who realized that Manisha needed further support and started moving forward. He reacted quickly in certain situations to give India a step towards breaking the impasse. Throughout the match, Indumati took a lot of initiative and was a complete worker for her team.
Sandhya Ranganathan: 5/10
Sandhya’s performance against Iran was nowhere close to the standards she has set for herself over the years. Saadhiya was not seen using her pace and failed to provide enough support in the box for her fellow forward.
Cutie Zaxa: 6.5/10
There were a few chances for Cutie to find her in the back of the net but overall, Cutie lacked situational awareness and was unable to make herself available in the box at times. While Manisha was being marked, Pyari needed to take more initiative, draw defenders towards her and use her physicality to good effect, but she was unable to execute any of these.
Manisha Kalyan: 8/10
Manisha was a clear target for both the Indian team and the Irani team. At times, Iran double-marked him to prevent him from running to the defense and taking threatening shots. Despite the heavy mark, Manisha had a few chances, including a free header, which she should have converted. She should have got more support from her fellow forward in the first half but she got tired in the second half and her level fell completely.
Dangmei Grace: 7/10
Grace replaced Sandhya in the 55th minute and managed to put the Iranian defense under heavy pressure from the start. Over and over again, he faced defenders and created opportunities for himself and others. He gave a wonderful opportunity to the cutie which Odia could not finish. She herself was guilty of missing out on two big opportunities to propel India forward and certainly should have been on the scoresheet.
Renu: 5/10
For Pyari, Renu came in the 65th minute and the game was unaffected. Renu hardly made herself available in advantageous positions and was mostly a spectator on the pitch.
Shilki Devi – N/A*
Sumati Kumari – N/A*
, Players who did not have enough playing time could be judged fairly.
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