I'm proud of the girls, says India coach Thomas Dennerby after Morocco loss

The young Blue Tigresses displayed an impressive outing against Morocco.

India were on the losing end for the second consecutive game at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022. Thomas Dennerby's side were handed a 0-3 demolition at the hands of group mates Morocco.

The young Blue Tigresses really levelled up their game as a whole and showcased a really strong performance, but just couldn’t get through. Morocco put up a dominating outing in the second half and cancelled out India’s first half braveness. 

After the game, head coach Thomas Dennerby reflected on the game.

Thoughts on the game 

Dennerby started off with sharing his thoughts on the game and said that the team worked really hard, but the tournament is over for India.

“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. 

“If you look at Morocco, the players play for really good academy teams in Europe. They've been training for a long time but we only had five months to catch up with them. We have been away from our family trying to help India to give a good performance,” he asserted.

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Lack of movements in the final third

India were really good at the back and even did a lot of things right in the middle of the park. But it was their movements in the final third that let them down. The head coach spoke about it and said that his side should’ve scored atleast one or two goals.

“I was trying to organise the teams. We've been practicing to play the final and crucial pass with accuracy. We should have scored either one or two when Anita was in a one on one situation with the keeper. Football is a sport of skill and we are lacking in it,” he replied.

On the game against Brazil

India will play their final game of the tournament on the 17th of October against the group's second-placed team Brazil. When asked about his thoughts going into the game against Brazil, Dennerby said that India will put up a strong fight for pride.

“Even if we are out of the tournament, we still have to play for our honour. We can’t give up and have to play well like we did today. 

“They had a tough time today and they have a lot to play for and for us, it’s more about showing that we have to play for our honour. We can still show that we still keep fighting even if we can’t come through,” he concluded.