Sarawut Suksawang praises India, Thomas Dennerby puts emphasis on defence

India will face Sweden in the final of the tournament on December 19 at the Mumbai Football Arena.

The Indian U17 women’s team defeated Thailand 1-0 in Tuesday night's match at the Mumbai Football Arena. Their Swedish counterparts won both of their games to make the final, whereas the Indians have emerged victorious against Thailand to follow them. Following the match, Sarawut Suksawang of Thailand and Thomas Dennerby of India interacted with the press in the post-match press conference.

Thailand lost both their games and this means that India will now face Sweden in the final on December 19.

The Thai team showed promise in the initial few minutes of the game, but then resorted to putting long-balls ahead later on. Talking about the change in gameplay, Sarawut Suksawang said, “It is a part of our plan. If we plan only one way the opponent will know what we can do. So, it is for the opponent (sic.)."

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He also commented on the home side as he remarked, “For the India team, they are a good team. Most of the players are good physically, are fast and most of the teams have their individual skills. So, it is very good to play against them."

“So, the mistake today, we have learned. The players have known and will improve on it in training. They have learned about the mistake and will improve,” Sarawut Suksawang quipped regarding a goalkeeping error in the later stages of the match.

Thomas Dennerby

Followed by Sarawut Suksawang, Indian head coach Thomas Dennerby also interacted in a press conference. “First of all, I think we really deserved the win today. We did a good game. We created a lot of scoring chances," he said.

"We made some nice and creative attacks. Maybe, we could be more sharp in the finishing, so that we could score more goals. But, in the end, I am extremely happy that we create so much," Thomas Dennerby added.

“In the defence, the only thing maybe, was when they come for the counter-attacks. When we lose the ball, we play square passes and they steal the ball and can move for a quick attack. Thailand couldn’t outplay us. In the end, we knew we had to score; we had to win the game, so we changed to three defenders," the Swedish tactician said.

On Win Against Thailand

“We put more speed upfront for them to come behind the Thailand defending line. Because they were very tight in the end, the Thai team. In the end, we won the game, but I feel sorry for their goalkeeper, such things happen in football. But, finally, we deserved the win (sic.)," he quipped.

The tactician also spoke about his primary aim in the tournament. “Yes, we all are in a learning process, with the whole team. Everything will not work out the way we want it to. We still have like 11 months. We need to work on all movements of the defensive game; it includes all movements in the attacking game," Thomas Dennerby said.

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“Except for that, we are working really hard outside the field with our fitness levels, with our conditioning and so on. I hope you can see that we were powerful in the end. Our girls had more power in the last 20 minutes,” he added.

He further emphasized on the game by saying, “Yes, the chances they had; we also had to be a bit more open in our game. They had two really good free-kicks. The first one went through the wall and that is something we need to improve on that."

“It is tough for the goalkeeper because she don’t see the ball until it passes through the wall. It was a good save. Of course, one of the thoughts I was happy about was the goalkeeping. She saved us in the last game too. But, a goalkeeper is also a part of the team. It is comfortable for a defending line to know that you have a good goalkeeper behind,” Thomas Dennerby concluded.