After U19 SAFF title, Young Tigresses look to raise the bar under Conti

Come Thursday, 12 February, and the Under-17 India women’s team will know how challenging their job will be in the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup when the group stage draw takes place in Malaysia. However, Pamela Conti’s spunky girls showed they were headed in the right direction when they swept to the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship title last weekend.

Thrown into a higher age-group competition as part of their preparation, the girls showed the stomach for a fight when they bounced back after a group league defeat to Bangladesh to dominate them 4-0 in the final at the Pokhara Rangasala Stadium — by far the biggest margin of victory in the final of a SAFF women’s youth tournament.

For Conti, a decorated coach and former Italian women’s footballer of the year, it was success in her first assignment, but not an end in itself. “This is the beginning! Let’s keep working hard for the future,” she posted on social media after the win.

Speaking to AIFF media, Conti said: “I’m happy because this was our first tournament, and we are leaving here with a trophy. But more important than that, we are leaving with a lot of lessons and learnings.”

The biggest takeaway from the tournament was the Young Tigresses managing to turn their fortunes around after a 2-0 defeat to the same opponents. But despite the scoreline, the final was not easy. According to Conti: “It’s normal that when you finish a game and win 4-0, you think it was easy. It looked easy, but it wasn’t.

"The team corrected the mistakes from the previous match. I was very calm because we had created many chances to score in that game. We knew we were the better team, and it was just a matter of scoring and winning.

“I always tell them in every meeting that they need to change their mentality. Winning is not easy. We have to work very hard. Always and every day. We have to grow mentally, because I believe mentality builds 80 per cent of success.’’

Now, a ticket to the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup has come after 21 years, but it also offers the girls a shot at the U17 Women’s World Cup, and that’s what Conti has her eyes on. “Now, we will work very hard back in India so that we can arrive at the Asian Cup in the best possible shape. We know it is going to be very complicated because there are very strong teams. This is the first time India will have a chance to qualify for the World Cup on merit, and with great confidence, we will give everything on the pitch right until the end.”

The girls, meanwhile, are over the moon at this achievement. Captain Julan Nongmaithem, who scored the opening goal of the final and was named the Player of the Match, said: ‘’It feels amazing to win another SAFF title for our country. Even though we are an U17 squad, we still managed to not only win an U19 tournament, but do so with a big margin.’’