Girls displayed maturity beyond their age: women's football coach

The Indian women's football team missed out on an opportunity to qualify for the third round of the 2020 Olympic qualifiers, but head coach Maymol Rocky lauded the the performance of her side, saying the girls displayed "maturity beyond their age". The Indian team, with an average age of 21, needed a win to top Group A but squandered the lead twice to play out a 3-3 draw against Myanmar to bow out of the competition on Tuesday.

"These girls are warriors. It was evident that they gave more than their cent percent against Myanmar. They displayed footballing maturity more than their age," Maymol said. "I can proudly say that this team has the ability to dominate some of the best teams in Asia. They have shown time and again what they can do when they play to their strengths," she added.

In the second round of AFC Olympic qualifiers, the Indian women's team finished on seven points from three matches, the same as Myanmar. But the hosts managed to scrape through to the next round on better goal difference. "The road is long. With such a young team we can only draw positives from our Olympic Qualifiers campaign. There are no negatives on this long road as we aspire to be among the best in Asia," Maymol said.

"We played our hearts out. The main positive we take is that on our day we can play a brand of good quality attacking football that can leave opponents like Myanmar stunned." PTI APA AH

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