Women's U-17 Football Tourney: India Eye Improved Show Against Sweden in Summit Clash

Mumbai, Dec 18 (PTI) A charged up India will eye a much-improved performance against more fancied Sweden when the two teams face each other in the summit clash of the three-nation women's U-17 international football tournament here on Thursday.

India lost their opening match against Sweden 0-3 before beating Thailand 1-0 to make it to the final.

The home side were outplayed by Sweden but the 1-0 win against Thailand has boosted their confidence, and Thomas Dennerby's wards would look to produce an improved show against the European team on Thursday.

There are a lot of areas which India will have to improve if they have to give a strong fight against Sweden, particularly their finishing.

Despite their win, India lacked finishing in their game against Thailand. The home side will need to improve their mid-field and also defence against a formidable opponent like Sweden.

The Indian defence did reasonably well in the match against Thailand. The Sweden coach had also praised the Indian defence and it will have to be seen if the Indians are up to the task against the Swedish forwards on Thursday.

The role of Indian custodian Manju Ganjhu will also be crucial and she would be aiming to keep the Swedish players at bay.

India played with far more aggression and kept creating chances against Thailand, which they could do against Sweden. India will have to display similar aggression on Thursday at the Mumbai Football Arena.

India coach Thomas Dennerby said that the win against Thailand was crucial with regard to the team's self confidence.

"It was a crucial win. It means a lot for the self-confidence. Winning football games is really, really important. I can't say that enough. Also, when you look at a game, you can win the game by luck or you can win a game because you deserve to win it," Dennerby told reporters on the eve of the final.

"We deserved to win the game against Thailand. We created a lot of scoring chances. When we looked at the game this morning, we realise that we should have scored three more goals. We did a lot of good things and in attack we were extremely good," the experienced Swede said.

However, Dennerby is aware that Sweden will come hard against his side.

"Sweden will come strong in this game. Our girls will have the first game in mind. They know the style of Sweden and they know how to handle it. I think in the first 10 minutes of our game against Sweden in game one, we were a little bit anxious. But now, we will not be that anxious," he noted.

Sweden have come to the summit clash on back of two strong wins against India and Thailand and would be looking to win the title.

Sweden coach Par Lagerstrom said that there were a few areas which he would like to work upon.

"Yeah absolutely, a lot of areas. What we have talked about is the way we want to play. We know we can take the long ball but we also like to put the ball side to side.

"We want to keep the ball to ourselves, to keep the ball more in possession in our team, we want to make smart decisions and that's what we want to work on. And of course, we always want to score more goals," the Swedish coach emphasised.

He praised India for its defence.

"I think it is difficult to say to compare the two games (one against Thailand and one against Sweden). I think in the first game, I was truly impressed by India. They have some players who are really good. One of them is goalkeeper (Manju Ganjhu). They have a great left-winger and they have some, couple of great defenders," Lagerstrom signed off.

A title win will boost the morale of the Indian players and coach Dennerby as they prepare for the next year's U17 Women's World Cup to be held in India.

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