AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifier: India beat Kyrgyz Republic to seal second round berth
The India women’s football team won both its Group G matches vs Kyrgyz Republic to make the second round, which will be played in October.
Football
The Indian women’s football team confirmed its spot in the second round of the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Paris 2024 with a 4-0 win over hosts Kyrgyz Republic in the second Group G match of the first round on Friday.
India, 61st in the latest FIFA rankings for women, and world No. 123 Kyrgyz Republic were the only two teams in Group G and played each other twice. The group winner after the two matches progressed to the second round. India blanked the Kyrgyz Republic 5-0 in the first game on Tuesday.
Sandhiya Ranganathan (18’, 56’), Anju Tamang (24’) and Renu (85’) scored the goals for India in the second match.
Right from the opening whistle at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek, Thomas Dennerby’s India looked comfortable on the ball and looked the likelier team of the two to take the lead.
After multiple close calls, India finally got their much-deserved goal courtesy a fine piece of individual skill by Sandhiya. The attacker cut in from the right, beat her marker and calmly placed her shot inside the near post to open the scoring for India.
The visitors, though, suffered a blow minutes later and were reduced to 10 women after Karthika Angamuthu was shown a red card for an off-the-ball challenge on Boronbekova.
However, the numerical handicap didn’t stop India from doubling their lead before half-time. Anju Tamang, who starred with a brace in the first match, got on the scoresheet yet again after latching onto a defensive mistake by the Kyrgyz goalkeeper.
Anju Tamang and Sandhiya could have increased India’s advantage further but Kyrgyz Republic goalie Abibulla redeemed herself by pulling off some fantastic saves to deny both Indian strikers.
India took a 2-0 lead into the break.
Indialooked to close shop against Kyrgyz Republic in the second half. India, with 10 players, defended in numbers while looking for counter-attacking opportunities.
Sandhiya struck her second of the night 11 minutes into the restart after slotting in a cut back from Indumathi. Renu added to the scoreline with a looping header towards the end to make it 4-0.
With the win, India will now feature in the second round of the Olympic women’s football qualifiers in October.