Indian women’s football team goes down 3-0 to Chile

The Indian women’s football team battled hard but lost 3-0 to Chile in its second match of the four-nation tournament at the Amazon Arena in Manaus, Brazil on Sunday night.

Chile’s Maria Urrutia, Isidora Hernandez and Karen Araya came up with the goals.

It may seem like a dominating scoreline but Chile found it tough to break a resolute Indian defence for large parts of the game, only scoring the last two goals in the 84th and 85th minutes.

Chile - ranked world No. 37, 20 spots above India - kept much of the possession in the early stages and were rewarded.

After a couple of sharp attacks down the right wing, Maria Urrutia got on the end of a cross and put in the ball in the top-left corner to give Chile the lead in the 13th minute.

India slowly got into their groove as the game ambled, with Manisha Kalyan - who scored a screamer in the 6-1 loss to Brazil - being threatening again down the left wing.

Chances for either side were few and far between as Chile headed into half-time in the lead.

A more front-footed approach from India harrowed Chile as Manisha Kalyan created a chance for Dangmei Grace, who looked the major goal threat for India.

However, India were unable to score and Chile gained a foothold again. Chilean winger Lara, who had been menacing down the left, put in a cross from which Isidora Hernandez converted to essentially kill off the game.

In the very next minute, Karen Araya’s unstoppable volley into the top-left corner secured the win for Chile.

The four-nation tournament serves as India’s preparation for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 at home in 2022.

India will next play Venezuela - their third and last match - on Wednesday.