R. Nivetha knows her role of being an assistant coach of the Indian women’s football team for the forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup hosted by India in October this year, comes with lots of duties and responsibilities.
“On the one hand, I am happy and on the other hand, I am a bit overwhelmed as there is a huge responsibility on my shoulders. We will do our best to ensure that India reaches the knock-out stage of the World Cup,” Nivetha told The Sportstar over a phone call on Thursday.
Nivetha has been working with head coach Thomas Dennerby of Sweden for a while and she said the team has been training hard and will showcase modern football to the world during the U-17 World Cup.
“Working with foreign coaches is always different as they have an eye for details. Thomas sir has coached Swedish and Nigerian teams and has plenty of experience. I’ve learnt the art of managing the players and being professional from Thomas sir. We will play modern football and will show the world what we are capable of,” said Nivetha.
When the FIFA (world football body) banned All-India Football Federation (it was later lifted) Nivetha was very worried and felt that a lot of good work done by the Indian team would go unnoticed. “Indian women’s football is on an upward curve. Indian Super League (ISL) teams such as Kerala Blasters are having a women’s team while other ISL teams are contemplating having one. When the ban was announced, I was very disappointed,” she said.
According to Nivetha, India’s performance in the U-23 tri-nation cup in Stockholm (Sweden) in June this year, where she was the assistant coach, was encouraging. “We fought hard with Sweden throughout but lost 0-1 and went down fighting to the USA 1-2. We didn’t give the USA any easy chances,” she said.
Nivetha is confident that India would put up a noteworthy performance in the World Cup. “Our first match is against the USA, which is going to be tough. For us, results are secondary but performance is primary. We will do our best,” she said.
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