Indian women’s football team suffers 3-2 defeat against Hammarby IF in friendly

Indian women's football team conceded their lead twice to go down to Swedish club Hammarby IF 3-2 at the Hammarby IP stadium in Stockholm on Thursday. It was the first of India’s two friendlies in Sweden.

Hammarby IF, former champions of the Damallsvenskan, Sweden's premier league for women, triumphed courtesy a Nina Jakobsson brace and an own goal by Ranjana Chanu. Indumathi Kathiseran and Manisa Panna got on the scoresheet for India.

India got off to a fine start. Sangita Basfore, Pyari Xaxa and Anju Tamang combined well to create an early scoring opportunity but the Hammarby goalkeeper snuffed out the danger.

The Thomas Dennerby-coached Indian side eventually took the lead in the 30th minute as Indumathi Kathiresan dribbled past a defender and fired it home.

India's lead, however, did not last long as Jakobsson levelled the score in the 36th minute for the Swedish club.

Four minutes later, India made it 2-1 when Manisa Panna headed an Anju Tamang corner into the Hammarby IF goal.

Six minutes into the second half, Martina Thokchom, who came onto the pitch in place of injured Sangita, lost her marker to enter the Hammarby box but was eventually neutralized. In the counterattack, Hammarby made it 2-2, with Jakobsson scoring from Amanda Sundstrom’s cross.

India pressed hard to restore their lead. In the 62nd minute, Manisa got a golden opportunity as she penetrated the opposition box from the top of the right corner before taking her shot but it went straight to the keeper.

With 12 minutes left in the game, June Pedersen came around on the left side and lifted the ball towards Jakobsson who was blocked by Chanu. But the ball deflected off her hand and went straight to the India net. The goal proved to be the winner.

Earlier this month, India defeated UAE (4-1), Bahrain (5-0) and Chinese Taipei (1-0) and lost to Tunisia (0-1) but lost 1-0 to Tunisia as part of their preparations for the AFC Asian Women’s Cup 2022.