Torneo Female Tournament: India U-17 women's team loses 0-7 to Italy

India U-17 women’s team suffered a 0-7 defeat against Italy in Grandisco D’lsonzo in the Torneo Female Tournament on Wednesday. The U-23 women’s team, on the other hand, conceded an injury-time goal against Sweden as they lost their match 0-1 in their first encounter in the WU23 3-Nations tournament at the Angelholms IP, in Sweden. India started off the match just like the way Thomas Dennerby would have wanted, by trying to press the opposition high up the pitch and trying to bring out mistakes from them. Tackles were flying in from both sides and Italy were awarded a free kick in the 4th minute. Beatrice curled the free-kick but she narrowly missed the target. Italy almost took the lead in the 10th minute as Dragoni was one-vs-one against Indian goalkeeper Monalisa but the latter stretched and produced a wonderful save to deny the Italian. However, India’s resistance would be broken soon as just one minute later, Maria Rossi put the ball into the back of the net. In the 22nd minute, Monalisa was again called into action by Dragoni, but the former again parried the ball out for a corner. India came the closest to scoring at the half-hour mark when Anita tried a long-range effort to catch the Italian defence off-guard but her shot missed the target by a whisker. The floodgates would open after that though as Anna Longobardi and Giulla Dragoni scored in the 31st and 33rd minutes, respectively, to give the Italians some much-needed cushion. In the 36th minute, Kajol went for the spectacular but she too missed the target by a whisker. The Young Tigresses trailed the Italians by a 0-3 margin at the half-time break. Italy picked up right from where they left off in the first half as Manuela Sciabica scored in the 48th minute. A couple of quick-fire goals followed after that as well and within 15 minutes of the second half, Italy had extended their lead to six goals. Thomas Dennerby made some changes in the 60th minute as Neha, Rejiya, Babina and Pinku came on for Nitu, Lynda, Kajol and Shelja, respectively. Marta Zambomi scored the final goal of the game in the 67th minute as she stretched Italy’s lead to 7 goals. Injury-time goal hands India U-23 defeat against Sweden Linn Vickius scored the only goal of the game to hand the win to the hosts Sweden against the India U-23 team. The Swedish women had the better of exchanges during the initial stages and even hit the Indian crossbar, but the Blue Tigresses managed to soak in the pressure and went into the attack with intent. The first chance for India came in the 12th minute when Manisha Kalyan got the ball from Martina Thokchom on the left flank. The former tried to place it into the goal, but the ball went straight into the keeper’s hands. In the 35th minute, Manisha again went in for an attempt but it was cleared by the Swedish defenders. A long ball was played from Anju Tamang in the 40th minute but Sweden goalkeeper Emma Holmgren collected it with ease. There were plenty of chances from the opponents, but Indian custodian Aditi Chauhan stood firm and had to be alert on several occasions. The first half turned out to be a tactical fight as neither team was able to find the back of the net. Changing over, Sweden mounted several attacks, keeping long bouts of possession in the Indian half, but the Blue Tigresses’ defence maintained parity. Head Coach Suren Chettri made a couple of changes bringing on Ratanbala Devi and Pyari Xaxa, in place of Priyangka Devi and Renu Rani, respectively. The Blue Tigresses defended deep and played in the middle as the best chance for India came in the 73rd minute. Pyari came close to scoring as she got the better of her marker off Manisha’s pass from the left flank but missed the target by a whisker. Soon after, Soumya Guguloth came on for Dangmei Grace. Martina had the final effort for India in the dying minutes of the game but it landed safely into Emma’s gloves. The last change was made by coach Chettri as Apurna Narzary came on in place of Manisha Kalyan. In added time, Ebba Hed struck a corner kick from the right and amidst a melee of bodies, it fell to Linn Vickius’ feet as the latter slotted it home to hand Sweden a last-minute lead, and the victory. India will take on the USA in their next encounter on June 25. Read all the Latest News ****, Trending News ****, Cricket News ****, Bollywood News ****, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook ****, Twitter and Instagram ****.