The Indian women’s football team will begin their AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 campaign against Iran on Thursday, January 20 at 7.30pm at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai as start the tournament on a high. India have three group stage matches against Iran, Chinese Taipei (January 23) and China (January 26) and they are aiming to make the quarter-finals.
Ahead of the tournament, head coach Thomas Dennerby stated that their first aim is to reach the last eight and for that the opener against Iran is crucial.
Iran are ranked lower than India in the FIFA and AFC rankings and the Middle Eastern team are all set to make their very first appearance at the Asian Cup.
By virtue of being the hosts, India are playing in the Asian Cup, which would be their first appearance at the continental championship in 19 years, the last being in 2003 before the qualifications for the tournament began.
Previously India have finished as the runners-up on two occasions – 1980 and 1983 – and India were the hosts in 1980.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The game is expected to be one of attack vs defence. The Iranians are expected to come with a solid defence and the strategy to hit India on the counter-attack.
India possess good counter-attacking skills as well with the pace of Manisha Kalyan on the left wing but in this match-up, India are likely to see more of the ball and build-up to create opportunities.
India and Iran have not played each other at such a level but some insights could be gained through the match between India’s Gokulam Kerala FC and Iran’s Shahrdari Sirjan at the AFC Women’s Club Championship last year.
While Gokulam attempted to play and create chances for themselves, Shahrdari maintained an excellent shape and were able to anticipate the movements of the Indian club well enough to thwart the attack.
It is important to note that Gokulam had 10 national team players in the squad while Shahrdari are not even Iran’s top club.
Since Dennerby took over the team, he has been working on changing the style of play from long ball game to a short passing one. Dennerby has stated that the women have the pace and the skill and long ball game is not something that suits the strength of most of the players.
Dennerby has worked on teaching the team how and when to press and has improved their fitness by a big margin.
Iran’s Afsaneh Chatrenoor is someone that India will have to be wary about as she possesses speed, accuracy and has a flair for finding the back of the net.
PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR
INDIA
Manisha Kalyan – Manisha is a household name ever since she scored the goal against Brazil in November last year. Her pace and ability to cut through can benefit India when they need to be clinical and quick.
Ashalata Devi – She is the captain of the team has the most number of caps (64) in the squad. The duo of Ashalata and Sweety at the back is solid with the Manipur being a mainstay in the team.
IRAN
Afsahneh Chatrenoor – The striker has 16 national caps and is extremely accurate with her feet and head. Afsaneh was the player who scored a fantastic curling free kick against Gokulam. She was also Shahrdari’s goalscorer against Jordan’s Amman FC.
Sara Ghomi – With 52 national caps and 17 goals, she is the most experienced player in the squad. She is the top Iranian female goalscorer of all time and from 2012 to 2016, she successively scored the most number of goals in the Kowsar Women’s League.
INDIA’S PREDICTED LINE-UP
In recent times, Dennerby has shown the inclination towards going for a back five. However, going by the fact that India will have to be the team forcing the issue against Iran, Dennerby might choose to go with four at the back.
In the above scenario, Dennerby is likely to start with 4-3-3.
India’s predicted starting XI: Aditi Chauhan (GK), Dalima Chhibber, Sweety Devi, Ashalata Devi, Manisa Panna; Anju Tamang, Indumathi Kathiresan, Ratanbala Devi; Dangmei Grace, Manisha Kalyan, Pyari Xaxa.
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