How did India perform in SAFF Women's Championship 2024: key highlights & missed opportunities

The Blue Tigresses crash out for the second consecutive time in the SAFF Women’s Championship.

Disappointment in Nepal. The Indian Women’s football team were knocked out of the SAFF Women’s Championship 2024 football tournament. The Blue Tigresses lost against the host team Nepal via a penalty shootout at the Dasharath Stadium, Kathmandu, on October 27th.

The team have now lost the championship in the semifinal for the second time in a row. The team also suffered a semifinal loss against the same team in the previous edition with a 1-0 scoreline.

The only positives for the Indian team are that Ashalata Devi earned her 100th cap for the national team, and Bala Devi scored her milestone 50th international goal for India.

In this article, let’s talk about how the Blue Tigresses performed in the competition:

The Journey: Promising starts to crash out

The team started their tournament journey on a good note, defeating Pakistan with a convincing 5-2 scoreline. Four Indian players- Grace Dangmei scored two, while Manisha Kalyan, Bala Devi, and Jyoti Chouhan scored the other three goals for India.

The problems started in the second match against Bangladesh. The Indian side conceded three goals in the first half. Bala Devi scored one, however, the team missed multiple chances in the final half. Despite the 1-3 loss, the team advanced to the semifinal as the second in the group stage for the first time in the tournament’s history.

Nepal dominated the Indian side in the semifinal. The host team conceded first in the 62nd minute in the heated match. Sangita Basfore scored a brilliant long-range goal to give the Blue Tigresses a lead.

The drama started afterwards. While the Indian players moved towards the bench to celebrate their goal, Nepal quickly took the “restart” and scored into an open Indian net. The main referee disallowed the goal, and the game was stopped for almost an hour.

The game restarted, and Sabitra Bhandari scored the equalizer for Nepal. The game went to a penalty shootout. Ashalata Devi and Ranjana Chanu missed their chances, and Nepal emerged victorious with a 4-2 scoreline in the shootout.

Missing clear opportunities

The main issue with the Blue Tigresses were missing clear opportunities in the final half. In the 90 minutes of the game, India could have drawn against Bangladesh and could have won against the Nepal team. However, a lack of finishing cost them the tournament.

In the semifinal against the host Nepal, in the first half, the team missed two clear opportunities to score. Three Indian players attempted four times to score in the first 45+5 minutes, but Nepal’s defenders blocked all of their attempts.

In the match against Bangladesh, the Blue Tigresses missed almost five chances to score. In fact, on one occasion, the team missed a simple tap-in, which went off target.

No Plan B

The Indian women’s team looked out of ideas in this tournament. It seemed there was no plan B from coach Santosh Kashyap. The Nepal team were down to 10 players after their in-form striker Rekha Poudel was given marching orders for her second yellow card offence in the 51st minute. Still, India couldn’t hurt them with an extra player advantage.

Bangladesh and Nepal completely dominated India in terms of attacking mindset. The Nepal team took nine shots in the first half, with six on target, compared to the Indian team, who took only five shots, with three on target.

The defensive strategy also needs to be questioned. The team conceded six goals – the most goals India have conceded in the history of this competition. Passing was also below average for the Blue Tigresses.

Coach Appointment in Question?

Santosh Kashyap‘s first assignment as head coach failed miserably. The question now is if he will remain the head coach. If he does, how will the tactician handle this team in the future and develop it for upcoming tournaments?

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