India U-17 women's coach: Important to be consistent

Alex Ambrose, the head coach of the India under-17 women's team, stressed that the girls need to remain consistent despite recent results.

The India Under-17 women's team will play the Hong Kong Under-18s on Saturday.

After three fabulous results, the India U-17 women’s national team is all set to take on Hong Kong U-18 women’s team on Saturday, June 29, 2019.

The India U-17 girls, who are preparing for the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in India next year, have earned three consecutive four-goal victories in their three matches in Hong Kong, beating Hong Kong U-23 (5-1), Tai Po TBC (4-0), and Citizen AA (5-1).

With one match to go in their Hong Kong expedition, head coach Alex Ambrose believes that the three victories have kept the spirits of the squad high but agrees that the development of the players is of high priority.

“It’s a good feeling when you get what you trained for, to get positive results. You can also see that the overall development of the squad is connecting in the right places and delivering when required. It is important that we now keep up the consistency,” said Ambrose.

Ambrose has used the matches in Hong Kong to test the waters with the current crop of players, often rotating the starting XI and trying out different combinations.

“We are here with a squad of 24 and we have been rotating players. It’s good to see the girls fighting for their position in the team. It’s a healthy environment when you have players doing that,” he said. 

The 37-year-old further went on to stress on the importance of adapting to conditions. However, it is the competition for places that has made Ambrose’s job more difficult, though that is not something that the Coach is complaining about.

“It’s very important for them to understand that how much time they need to adapt and cement their place. But it’s never easy for a coach when you have a team that is always pushing and making your job more difficult to put out the best XI, but that’s always a plus point,” Ambrose explained.

Ahead of the team’s last game against Hong Kong U-18, Ambrose stressed on the importance of maintaining the winning habit as a team, and grind out the good results.

“We need to keep up the same spirit and play to the plan. I think it is about improving in every game. This is where we need to keep our heads down, stick to the plan and get a good result whenever we want,” Ambrose rounded off.