The second edition of the SAFF U19 Championship is hosted by Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh with four nations, tournament host Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India, participating in the tournament. FIFA suspended Pakistan Football Federation on 7 April 2021, so they cannot participate in this competition. The Maldives too withdrew from the tournament before the fixtures were finalized. All the games will be played in one venue at BSSS Mostafa Kamal Stadium.
SQUAD :
Goalkeepers: Anshika, Adrija Sarkhel, Manju Ganjhu
Defenders: Astam Oraon, Nisha, Nirmala Devi, Purnima Kumari, Shilky Devi, Ritu Devi, Kritina Devi
Midfielders: Poonam, Nitu Linda, Babina Devi, Santosh, Priyangka Devi, Mariyammal Balamurugan, Anju
Forwards: Karen Estrocio, Amisha Baxla, Lynda Kom Serto, Sumati Kumari, Apurna Narzary, Santhiya Nadupatti Venugadajalam
Head Coach: Alex Mario Ambrose
Indian U19 Women's football team left for Dhaka on Wednesday 8. The 23 member squad list trained in Goa before the competition with an aspiration to bag the prize this time out. Any success in Bangladesh will add value to the much anticipated Asian Cup set to be hosted in India next year. Head coach Alex Ambrose has said that the girls are adaptive to situations and are doing well after a tough year with no league football in the country or a preseason due to the pandemic situations. The team is a mixture of youth and players earning senior team call-ups most recently.
India's fixture
1) India vs Sri Lanka - 13th December (19:00)
2) India vs Bhutan - 15th December (19:00)
3) India vs Bangladesh - 17th December (19:00)
4) Nepal vs India - 19th December (19:00)
All nations will play each other once in a round-robin format and the top two nations qualify for the final on 22 December. The winners of the inaugural competitions are Bangladesh who won in 2018.
The Blue Tigresses faces an unfamiliar opposition in Sri Lanka, debuting in the competition, in their first game on 13th December. This will be the Lankans ' second game after starting their campaign against Bhutan on the 11th. Bhutan themselves are the next opposition for India being the last edition's semifinalist, so no easy oppositions here. However, the Blue Colts did beat them three years back in the fight for third place. India then faces competition's heavyweights, Bangladesh and Nepal in consecutive games. Both of the sides competed in the last final and are equally ambitious to lift the silverware at the end of it all. Bangladesh wants to hold onto the title in their own ground while Nepal poses a stern test as always. Alex Ambrose's team will be eyeing a win in one or both of those fixtures to settle themselves on the top two places on the chart to book a ticket to the final.
Last time out
It was a close affair for India in the semi-final stage against Nepal in the 2018 SAFF U19 Women's Championship at Bhutan. Nepal took the lead in that match but Jabamani Tudu evened things up in the second half just after the hour mark. It wasn't enough as India lost 3-1 on penalties with Tudu converting again now in the shootout. However, they were able to defeat Bhutan for a third-place via the 72nd goal from Devneta Roy. Their group stage performance was marvelous as the Blue Tigresses outclassed Bhutan (4-0) and Maldives (8-0) without conceding a goal to seal the last four berths.
