U17 Women’s Football Tournament Final: India vs Sweden – Match preview, kick-off time & stream

India women’s team lock horns against Sweden in the final of the ongoing U17 Women’s Football Tournament in Mumbai on Thursday.

The Tri-nation tournament is being organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) as preparation for the upcoming 2020 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup hosted by India.

After losing their opening fixture of the competition 0-3 against Sweden, the Indian girls came back strongly to register a narrow win over Thailand courtesy a Kritina Devi strike and thereby booking their place in the final of the competition.

India coach Thomas Dennerby remained confident ahead of facing the mighty Swedes and suggested that his team can switch to different tactics depending upon the opposition.

“We will go for the win against Sweden. No matter who we play, we always strive to win – not for a draw or to lose by just one or two goals. We can change tactics for different games and that is to win and not to let in lesser goals. We are going for it.”

The Indian girls were completely overawed by the Swedish side in their opening match as the opponents took control of the game right from the beginning and killed the match in the first half itself. The girls regrouped themselves in the second half and had looked much more confident but they just could not convert their chances.

The Indian coach believes that the result against Sweden in the first match will not affect his side as his girls will come more prepared in the final compared to the tournament opener.

“Sweden will come out strong but the difference will be that our girls have the first game in mind. Now, they know better how to handle the pressure. In the first 10 minutes versus Sweden, we were a little bit anxious. Now, I hope we can manage them better. We were closer than the result – 2-1 instead of 3-0 would have been better.

“We have improved over the tournament. The intensity of our game is higher and the understanding of how many easy chances you can create from taking good positions in defence has grown. We are trying to find a model where we can conserve energy in defence so that we can attack with speed and intensity.”