AFC Under-19 championships qualifiers | India rount Pakistan 18-0 in one sided affair

It was the first game of India’s campaign in the qualifier for the AFC under-19 Championships and the Indian women’s team were extremely dominant the proceeding in the match against Pakistan. India started the rout as early as the second minute with Manisha who scored after a bit of confusion in the box allowed her to sneak in the opening goal of the game.

India did not let the scoring stop and Devetna scored another goal in the ninth minute before she and Manisha and Devetna added another goal each in the 25th minute of the match. Keeping up the pressure, India managed to score a total of nine goals in the first half of the game with Daya Devi, Papki Devi, and Jebamani Tudu getting their name on the scoresheet. As if the goal scoring had not been enough Pakistan managed to get in an own goal as well with the goalkeeper to blame for the error.

There was no respite for Pakistan in the second half as well as India kept building the pressure and the flurry of goals continued. Renu was the star performer coming in as a substitute in the second half she scored a total of five goals. Other scorers in the second half were Roja Devi (59’) Soumyta Guguloth (77’) where as Manisha and Roja Devi continued their form by scoring two more goals. The full time ended with India winning emphatically 18-0.

“It was a great result for us. This kind of a win gives a lot of boost to our girls, and hopefully, we can go ahead and do better in the next game as well,” India head coach Alex Ambrose said after the match, reported Scroll.

On the other hand, Pakistan team coach Mohammad Siddique Sheikh said that the team had just coming out of a ban and they would use this match as a learning curve going forward.

“We were banned by FIFA for three and a half years. So we played absolutely no football back then. India have already started an impressive development of their women’s game. We are just starting out on that front. It will take time, but we have to treat this as a learning experience,” he said.