Alanya, Feb 28:
India’s valiant efforts to win their first-ever senior women’s title outside the SAFF region got swept aside by an injury-time goal in their concluding round-robin Turkish Women’s Cup match against Kosovo at the Gold City Complex here on Tuesday.
While the 1-0 victory, thanks to a skillful effort by Ereleta Memeti, propelled Kosovo to nine points from three matches and gave them their second title in-a-row, India finished runners-up withsix points. It was the Blue Tigresses’ best performance in the TurkishWomen’s Cup in three appearances.
India’s Manisha Kalyan was adjudged the best midfielder of the tournament for her exemplary display throughout the competition.
Itwas a do-or-die match for India. Nothing short of three points wasenough for them to win the cup. For Kosovo, a team, who last tasteddefeat in November 2022 (1-3 against Slovenia), a draw was enough,though they did even better.
Seeking better stability in front oftheir own back four, India made one change to the starting XI fromtheir previous match against Hong Kong ? Sangita Basfore replacedKarthika Angamuthu to slot into the number six role.
The BlueTigresses were happy to keep their shape and contain Kosovo, though theepicentre of the battle was quite far from the Indian box. India, whilesitting on a mid-press on most occasions, chose their moments to imposea high press on the Kosovo back-four, a tactic that yielded severalchances and also served to confuse the opposition defence.
Soumya Guguloth had the best chance of the first half and perhaps even thegame on the quarter-hour mark, when Pyari Xaxa managed to steal the ballat the edge of the Kosovo box, before playing it to IndumathiKathiresan, who threaded a delicate through ball between the lines, toSoumya behind the defence. The India winger only had Djellza Mehmeti tobeat from inside the six-yard box but managed to side-foot it straightat the Kosovo keeper.
India’s ploy to pressurise the Kosovo defence worked wonders, with Pyari, the striker, being the chiefworkhorse. She managed to make a crucial interception at the edge of thearea in the 38th minute, an action that required a high boot fromDonjeta Halilaj to bring her down. Manisha showed her class from theensuing free-kick, curling it around the wall, with the ball destinedfor the far post. However, Mehmeti produced a diving save to keep itout.
Manisha had another chance when she sprinted down the leftand attempted a laced shot across the face of the goal, which was savedby the keeper. Her shot from the ensuing rebound went wide, just secondsbefore the half-time whistle.
