The Indian women’s football team put up a dominant show to blank Bahrain 5-0 victory in a friendly at the Hamad Town Stadium in Bahrain on Sunday.
Sangita Basfore (13’) opened the scoring before Pyari Xaxa (19’, 68’), Indumathi Kathiresan (34’) and Manisha Kalyan (69’) added another four goals on their tally. It was a good recovery after the 0-1 defeat against Tunisia in their previous friendly in the UAE.
Thomas Dennerby’s team showed their intent right from the get-go when Anju missed the target from a corner in the fourth minute. Two minutes later, Pyari missed a chance after being fed a cross by Dalima Chhibber.
They didn’t need to wait for too long to break the deadlock as Sangita provided them with an early lead in the 13th minute. Six minutes later, Pyari made amends of her previous miss to double the lead.
Skipper Ashalata also tried her luck from a free-kick, but she couldn’t manage to hit the back of the net on the night.
Ranjana Chanu, Dangmei Grace, and Pyari kept the Bahrain defence on their toes throughout and finally, Indumathi joined the party after the half-hour mark.
India dominated in every department to hold on to a 3-0 lead at the end of the first half.
India’s Swedish coach introduced Soumya Guguloth at the break, withdrawing Grace. Ashalata once again came very close to score from a curling free-kick, but only saw her effort going off-target on the 58th minute. Six minutes later, Pyari completed her brace from Sanju’s header.
Within a few seconds, Manisha fired in the fifth goal of the night, which put the match well beyond the hosts.
Pyari got carded 17 minutes from the end of the regulation whistle, but Bahrain could not utilise the numerical advantage and the scoreline remained unchanged till the end.
India will now take on Chinese Taipei in their next friendly match on October 13 at 8.30 PM IST.
India Starting XI: Aditi Chauhan, Sweety Devi, Ashalata Devi, Sangita Basfore (Martina 64’), Anju Tamang, Pyari Xaxa, Dangmei Grace (Soumya 45’), Indumathi, Ranjana Chanu (Sanju 64’), Manisha (Sumathi 83’), Dalima Chhibber (Michel Castanha 64’).
Watch full highlights from the match:
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