Indian women’s football team ends Brazil tour with loss against Venezuela
Dangmei Grace gave India the lead in the first half but Venezuela eked out a 2-1 win courtesy of second-half strikes from Mariana and Barbara.
The Indian women’s football team ended the four-nation tournament in Brazil without a win as it went down 2-1 to Venezuela in the final match at the Amazon Arena in Manaus, Brazil on Wednesday.
India had earlier lost 6-1 to hosts Brazil and 3-0 to Chile.
Up against Venezuela, a team ranked just one place over them in the FIFA rankings, world No. 57 India took the lead through Dangmei Grace in the first half but couldn’t hold on as Venezuela’s Mariana and Barbara scored in the second-half to earn the South American side the win.
After a closely-contested start to the match, India drew first blood in the 18th minute after Ritu Rani’s free-kick from the deep was headed into the Venezuela goal by Dangmei Grace, who timed her run to perfection.
Jolted by the early setback, the Venezuelan team responded well and piled the pressure on for an equaliser. The Indian defence and goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan, however, held the fort till the half-time whistle as India took a one-goal lead into the break.
After the restart, Venezuela continued asking the right questions with Mariana’s pace in particular troubling the Indian backline.
The sustained pressure eventually yielded results as Mariana fired home from close range in the 50th minute to restore parity.
Barbara completed Venezuela’s comeback in the 80th minute, as she beat Aditi Chauhan to give her team the lead. Despite India’s best efforts to find a late equaliser, the Venezuelan defence successfully saw off their attacks until the final whistle.
Though India lost all their matches in the four-nation tourney, the experience of taking on top-level sides like Brazil and Chile is expected to serve them well at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022, which starts from January 20 in India.