FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: In loss to Morocco, India find a target to aim for

Moroccos’s tears of disappointment after their loss to Brazil in their opening match of the 2022 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup turned into jubilation after a 3-0 win on Friday. Playing their first ever Women’s World Cup, Morocco succumbed to a 1-0 loss in their debut game, but turned things around to secure a historic win at Kalinga Stadium. On the losing side were India, the hosts, who are also playing in their first ever Women’s World Cup.

It is not only at the Women’s U-17 level that Morocco are making history. In July they became the first Arab team to qualify for a senior Women’s World Cup – 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand. This was after they became the first Arab nation to advance from the group stage of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

FULL-TIME ⌛

That’s the end of the game tonight and Morocco seals the win and take away the 3️⃣ points against India.

🇮🇳 0-3 🇲🇦#INDMAR ⚔️ #U17WWC 🏆 #BackTheBlue 💙 #ShePower 👧 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/nhVUlJoYVX

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) October 14, 2022

A series of firsts in Moroccan football have coincided with the ambitious and expansive development plan of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF). The National Women’s Football League (LNFF) has existed since 2008 but in 2020 FRMF signed an agreement with the league and National Technical Directorate (DTN) to take women’s football to a “new level”.

The agreement was part of FRMF’s four-year (2021-24) plan to revamp women’s football in the country in which the federation will pay the wages of players and staff of 44 clubs. Also, as per the plan, from the 2020-21 season, a two-tier professional championship has been launched with 14 teams in the first-division besides a national Under-17 championship and regional championships for youth categories.

The first and second-division clubs are required to have a roster of 25 players and run U-15 and U-17 teams to receive the funding. FRMF pays up to $15,000 to top-division clubs on a monthly basis while second-tier sides get $10,000.

With the four-year plan, Morocco hope to have 90,000 active women footballers and 10,000 licensed women coaches by 2024.

Also, the players of the women’s senior teams must all have professional contracts.

Proud of our #FRMF long-term vision.
Focusing on developing the system that consistently develops champions for Morocco, not a short-term plan for 1 event.
The women of Morocco can achieve greatness, we need to develop the professional system that supports their development! 🇲🇦 https://t.co/sGo22wQfgt

— Kelly Lindsey (@Kelly_Lindsey1) August 11, 2020

All of this is starkly different to how women’s football is running in India. The top-division Indian Women’s League (IWL) was launched in 2016 with just six teams. It expanded to 12 teams but the 2021-22 season ran for just over a month. The 202-21 season was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic while the Moroccon top-division was concluded under a bio-bubble.

The IWL doesn’t have a second division and the route to reach the top-division goes through the state leagues. But what if your state doesn’t have a league? It’s quite common in India and in such a case, the clubs have to take part in IWL qualifiers for a place in the main round.

The women’s football structure in India is almost non-existent and the only saving grace is the junior and senior national championships. In fact, the India team for the ongoing World Cup was formed only a few months ago.

The World Cup was initially scheduled for 2020 but got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and most of the players became ineligible for the tournament. After this, almost a new team was made with help of trials.

This contrast in the footballing structure of Morocco and India is the reason why one debutant has won their first match in a Women’s World Cup, while another is out of the quarter-finals race with a game to go.

It’s the sort of structure that India need to aim for. It’s the sort of structure that the women’s game in India needs. Once you have it, rest assured you won’t have to host a World Cup to qualify for it, the team will be good enough to make it automatically.

A marked improvement from USA game

FT: 🇮🇳 India 0️⃣-3️⃣ Morocco 🇲🇦

Hosts India are beaten by Morocco in a defeat that marks the end of their knockout round hopes at the #U17WWC! pic.twitter.com/EXJFtqBHTw

— #AsianCup2023 (@afcasiancup) October 15, 2022

Coming to the game, there was a marked improvement in how India performed against Morocco as compared to their match vs USA. And it was not just in terms of goals conceded. USA put eight past India , but scoring wasn’t that easy for Morocco on Friday.

Two of Morocco’s three goals could easily have been avoided. The first one came through a soft penalty as Naketa handled the ball in the box. The second came as a result of goalkeeper Melody Keisham spilling the ball.

“The tournament is now over for team India and of course that’s painful. I’m still proud of the girls today because they worked hard and tried their best. We could see that our fitness level wasn’t a problem, but we are not up to the mark technically," coach Thomas Dennerby said after the match.

India dominated the game on certain occasions in the first half as they played higher up the pitch, pressed their opposition and created multiple attacking moves. Morocco failed to score in the first half while India went on to stitch 18 passes in the attacking third. The tempo came down in the second half after a lung-bursting first 45 minutes and that is when Morocco capitalised.

Out of contention for the quarter-finals, hosts India will now take on Brazil in their last group match on 17 October.

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