India were handed a stern reality check in their opening match of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022 against the United States. The Blue Tigresses suffered a humbling 0-8 loss at the hands of the visitors on Tuesday (October 11).However, the defeat against the USA is not just a minor blip in India's journey, it highlights the longstanding obstacles that are embroiled in the country's women's footballing structure. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been regularly denounced for its step-motherly treatment of the women's game.India lacks a proper age-group setup and the top-tier women's league runs for just slightly over a month. Despite this, the federation went out of its way to launch its bid for hosting the U-17 Women's World Cup in the country. The Blue Tigresses only sealed a berth in the tournament as the host nation. But the match against the United States brought to the forefront the glaring gulf in qualities between the two nations.Fans all over social media stressed that while hosting such tournaments might give a generation of players some remarkable exposure, that is no substitute for the lack of footballing structure in the country, especially for the women's game.Here are some of the best tweets:Sayak Dipta Dey@sayakdd28U13 Y-League (Men and Women)U15 Y-League (Men and Women)U18 Y-League (Men and Women)U23 Y-League (Men and Women)Full Fledged IWL.Promotion and Relegation.Women's teams compulsory for ISL, I-League and I-League 2nd Division. DO IT. AIFF. @kalyanchaubey #IndianFootball30779U13 Y-League (Men and Women)U15 Y-League (Men and Women)U18 Y-League (Men and Women)U23 Y-League (Men and Women)Full Fledged IWL.Promotion and Relegation.Women's teams compulsory for ISL, I-League and I-League 2nd Division. DO IT. AIFF. @kalyanchaubey #IndianFootballJeni@JenishaRaniFor the umpteenth time, hosting fancy international tournaments alone won't take us anywhere. #U17WWC13421For the umpteenth time, hosting fancy international tournaments alone won't take us anywhere. #U17WWCಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಿ ತನಯ@ManjuKByeIt could only get you few tweets from famous politicians and Celebs.Nothing more twitter.com/JenishaRani/st…Jeni@JenishaRaniFor the umpteenth time, hosting fancy international tournaments alone won't take us anywhere. #U17WWC123For the umpteenth time, hosting fancy international tournaments alone won't take us anywhere. #U17WWCIt could only get you few tweets from famous politicians and Celebs.Nothing more twitter.com/JenishaRani/st…Sattam Samrat Panigrahi@samrat_sattam@IndianFootball Keep on hosting World Cups like this ....where we'll be bolstered like this.Football is not some fancy shortcut...@IndianFootball AIFF is to be blamed...Proud of these girls31@IndianFootball Keep on hosting World Cups like this ....where we'll be bolstered like this.Football is not some fancy shortcut...@IndianFootball AIFF is to be blamed...Proud of these girls❤️🔥🌟Vaskar Gautam@vaskarhere@IndianFootball Nothing to be ashamed of. Just a reality check of where we are in world football. Hopefully the "netas" just don't show up for the opening event and do something progressive to make India a strong football nation. The wait for this to happen has been too long.5@IndianFootball Nothing to be ashamed of. Just a reality check of where we are in world football. Hopefully the "netas" just don't show up for the opening event and do something progressive to make India a strong football nation. The wait for this to happen has been too long.Shivam 🇮🇳⚽@shivamshailThere's no shortcut.Only vision, planning and execution.#IndianFootball #U17WWC #INDUSA twitter.com/IndianFootball…Indian Football Team@IndianFootballFULL TIME! Tonight's action in Bhubaneswar draws to a close.FT Score: 0-8 #INDUSA ⚔️ #U17WWC #BackTheBlue #ShePower #IndianFootball 163FULL TIME! Tonight's action in Bhubaneswar draws to a close.FT Score: 🇮🇳 0-8 🇺🇸#INDUSA ⚔️ #U17WWC 🏆 #BackTheBlue 💙 #ShePower 👧 #IndianFootball ⚽️ https://t.co/Q4JFwpTwEKThere's no shortcut.Only vision, planning and execution.#IndianFootball #U17WWC #INDUSA twitter.com/IndianFootball…My conscience/என் மனசாட்சி@machanae1With the economy, population football could be easily made popular... politicians would never allow it twitter.com/IndianFootball…Indian Football Team@IndianFootballFULL TIME! Tonight's action in Bhubaneswar draws to a close.FT Score: 0-8 #INDUSA ⚔️ #U17WWC #BackTheBlue #ShePower #IndianFootball 65963FULL TIME! Tonight's action in Bhubaneswar draws to a close.FT Score: 🇮🇳 0-8 🇺🇸#INDUSA ⚔️ #U17WWC 🏆 #BackTheBlue 💙 #ShePower 👧 #IndianFootball ⚽️ https://t.co/Q4JFwpTwEKWith the economy, population football could be easily made popular... politicians would never allow it😑 twitter.com/IndianFootball…The message all over Twitter was loud and clear -- there's no shortcut to a well-established footballing structure in the country. The glitz and glamor of an age-group can attract temporary attention, but development will only come through persistence and perseverance.The new AIFF administration will have to take prompt steps to better the ground reality in Indian women's footballA lack of proper youth footballing structure in the country means that a lot of these players in India's U-17 women team have been exposed to the game at a much later stage as compared to their counterparts from other nations. Furthermore, no proper age-group system has been put in place to identify these talents at a much earlier stage and nurture them to their fullest potential.Meanwhile, months ahead of the much-anticipated FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the former assistant coach of the nation's age-group women's team, Alex Ambrose, was accused of alleged sexual misconduct with one of the team members. The trauma that the entire group of youngsters underwent is unfathomable. The federation is still yet to provide an update on the situation following the initial statement after the incident came to light.Desmond Mathias@dezmathiasTough game today. Not surprising. Gap in quality evident and there's nothing this team, given the circumstances, could do about it.Given the cards the team's been dealt with over the last few years, and the Ambrose case, I do hope they're taken care of tonight, and in future.173Tough game today. Not surprising. Gap in quality evident and there's nothing this team, given the circumstances, could do about it.Given the cards the team's been dealt with over the last few years, and the Ambrose case, I do hope they're taken care of tonight, and in future.Hence, the difference in quality on the pitch tonight shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The result tonight is a call to the Indian footballing authorities to avoid mere tokenism when it comes to women's football and lay down a roadmap that could provide wholesome development for the sport in the coming years.