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| Dennerby admits India not up to USA standards | | | agencies
BHUBANESWAR, Oct 12: India head coach Thomas Dennerby has admitted that his team was not up to the standard of top quality sides like the USA after it suffered a 0-8 loss to the Americans in the opening match of the FIFA Women's U-17 World Cup here.
Dennerby also took a U-turn regarding his earlier claim that India can compete against any team in the age-group showpiece on the basis of the close game (1-3 loss) against Sweden in Under-17 side in the lead up to the tournament.
"I did not expect to let in so many goals because defending has been quite good when they played against Sweden two and half weeks ago. We defended very well, we had two shots on the bar and we were creating chances.
"But honestly USA were one level up even if you compare with Sweden at least."
Dennerby had said before the USA match that the 1-3 defeat against Sweden as part of preparation was a close game and "if you can play a close game against Sweden, you can do that with any team in this tournament".
Incidentally, Sweden did not qualify for the final round of the UEFA U-17 Championships, the European qualifying tournament for the FIFA event.
Dennerby had earlier mentioned that India prepared very well for the FIFA Women's U-17 World Cup but at the press conference he said that the hosts haven't played any side of the standard of USA in the lead-up to the showpiece.
Since the start of preparations in February, the India U-17 side played against Romania (one draw and one loss), Italy (0-7 loss), the Netherlands (1-5 defeat), Sweden (1-3 defeat), Chile (1-3 defeat) and Mexico (0-2 loss).
Out of these countries that India played against, Romania, Italy and Sweden could not qualify for the UEFA U-17 Championships. Chile and Mexico are competing in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
"No doubt USA are really a good side. If you look at the USA players, the skilfulness, their speed and you cannot find any weak point in their team. So far the games we have played earlier this year, no team was up to this level," Dennerby said.
"We have not played against any team which sends in top quality corners and players like six feet tall coming in and jumping very high and heading with top class quality," the Swede added.
He said the Indian team can do better than the disappointing performance against USA and said the players were nervous at the big occasion as they were playing their first World Cup match.
"It was definitely very tough for us. But of course I also know that team India can play a little bit better than this. My feeling is that the girls were a little bit too nervous, could not handle the situation as it was their first World Cup game," he said.
"In the beginning, we did not even try to pass the ball to each other. There was something in the way, not comfortable enough to start playing. I was screaming the girls to start playing.
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