Preparation of AFC women's Asian Cup is on right track, says coach Maymol

Indian women's football team head coach Maymol Rocky feels the side is on the right track in their preparation of the Asian Cup despite a 2-0 loss against Serbia earlier this week.

The Indian women's team played its first match after lockdown against Serbia in Turkey and faced a 2-0 defeat on Wednesday.

Despite the loss, coach Rocky stressed the positives which emerged from the game and downplayed the loss saying that Serbia is the superior side than India.

"We played a match against Serbia wherein we went down 0-2. But looking back, the positives which emerged from the match are immense. Technically, Serbia are a much superior side than us in comparison to our new-look team," the AIFF website quoted Maymol as saying.

"We had our chances but failed to convert them. We played at a high intensity. This is just the start and makes me believe that we are on the right track in our preparation for the AFC Women's Asian Cup India 2022," she added.

Captain Sangita Basfore admitted that getting back to playing international football is a "different feeling."

"It's almost as exciting as playing for your country for the first time. Sporting activities had come to a standstill due to the lockdown. But we had continued to train indoors over regular zoom meetings," said Sangita.

"The two-month camp in Goa enabled us to shrug off all the sluggishness and focus ahead. Getting back to playing international football is a completely different feeling," Sangita expressed.

Talking about the match against Serbia, Sangita pointed out that the coach has noted the points where the side needs to improve for going forward.

"The match was a tough one. Serbia were a superior side. The most significant aspect is that such matches are part of our learning curve. The coach has jotted down the areas for improvement and we have been working on improving those areas," said Sangita.

( With inputs from ANI )