Indian Women's Team to play two friendlies in Sweden

The Indian Women's National Team are all set to play a couple of friendly matches against top division clubs in Sweden, the AIFF has announced.

The matches are part of preparations for the AFC Women's Asian Cup slated to be held early next year. India will play against Hammarby IF on October 20 and Djurgarden IF on October 23. Head coach Thomas Dennerby has coached both the clubs in his managerial career and was responsible for taking Djurgarden to the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final in 2004.

"They are still a very good team and both matches will be challenging for us," he said.

India will host the AFC Women's Asian Cup next year.

India were awarded the hosting rights for the continental showdown last year and the tournament was originally supposed to be held in October and November this year. The dates were postponed to 2022 owing to the severe impact of COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Thomas Dennerby, who was the head-coach of the Indian Women's U-17 team before the cancelation of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2020, was brought in to manage the senior team two months back. While coaching the U-17 girls, he managed to arrange a tri-nation tournament between India, Sweden and Thailand to prepare the team for the World Cup.

Recently, India played four friendlies and emerged victorious in 3 of them. The women lost against Tunisia by a narrow 1-0 margin but beat UAE, Bahrain and Chinese Taipei. The win against Chinese Taipei was special, considering that the opponents are ranked 17 places above India.

The squad for the friendlies in Sweden is as follows-

Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Maibam Linthoingambi Devi, Shreya Hooda.

Defenders: Dalima Chhibber, Sweety Devi, Ritu Rani, Ashalata Devi, Ranjana Chanu, Michel Castanha, Manisa Panna, Astam Oraon.

Midfielders: Sangita Basfore, Indumathi Kathiresan, Sanju, Martina Thokchom.

Forwards: Dangmei Grace, Anju Tamang,Sandhiya Ranganathan, Soumya Guguloth, Manisha Kalyan, Sumati Kumari, Pyari Xaxa, Renu.