Tokyo Olympics 2020 | Indian women’s football team beat Indonesia 2-0 in Round 2 qualifiers

The players started the match well by putting pressure from the very first minute, thanks to some beautiful footwork on the flanks by Sanju and Ratanbala Devi that was visibly difficult for the Indonesians to stop. It was quite evident in the 24th minute when a cross by Sanju saw one of the Indonesian defenders almost turning it in for an own goal.

Another such dangerous move came two minutes later when Sandhiya was seen going past one defender after another on the left wing before taking a shot that was saved by Riska Julianti, this time, Dangmei Grace had got into the perfect position and tapped in from the close range to hand India the lead.

India were equally brutal in the second half when a long shot by Ratanbala Devi’s saw Julianti keeping failing to keep her calm to collect the ball. The nervy moments kept piling in one after another before Grace doubled the lead in the 67th minute from yet another rebound from Sumithra Kamaraj’s shot, which haphazardly cleared away by Julianti.

This win takes India one step closer to the Tokyo Games and Maymol Rocky sounded satisfied with the result against a tricky opponent. 

“We wanted to start our qualifying campaign on a winning note and we have done so. Indonesia proved to be tough opponents that committed bodies in defence but we found a way to gather three points,” Maymol said after the match, reported PTI.

“It is important to keep the winning momentum alive and we were able to do so. We are taking one match at a time and our focus shifts on our next opponents Nepal (on April 06),” she added.