After a scintillating victory in their first game in Bahrain, the Indian Women’s National Team will be looking to build on that result when they come up against Chinese Taipei on Wednesday, 13th October.

The girls have had a good start under new head coach Thomas Dennerby, with two huge victories against UAE and Bahrain. However, the coach is fully aware of the challenge that Chinese Taipei will present. In the build-up to the clash, Dennerby said, “The games till now have shown us what we need to work on going forward. The game against Chinese Taipei will be our toughest test so far on this tour. But we are ready for that.”

He continued, “I expect an attacking game from Chinese Taipei, which means our defence will be under more pressure. However, it also means that we will have more space to attack in behind their defence, which makes it an interesting encounter.”

There is evidence of a change in style for the Indian team under Thomas Dennerby so far. There seems to be more emphasis given to possession-based football. On that, Dennerby said, “While defending, we tend to play with a zonal defence now. The girls are starting to understand what I want them to do in the defensive phase of the game. In the attacking phase, we have changed our style of play, trying to play short passes and build out from the back. Starting from the goalkeeper through to the attackers, we try to play a short passing game. The quality of the game also becomes better with this,” Thomas stated.

The game against Chinese Taipei will kick off at 8.30 PM IST on 13th October.

(AIFF Media)