India U-17 girls high on confidence after Romania friendlies, says Dennerby

With a win and a draw against Romania in their exposure tour of Turkey, the India U-17 women's team is now "more confident", said coach Thomas Dennerby.

Thomas Dennerby and the India U-17 girls will return to Goa after their exposure tour of Turkey.

The India U-17 women's team finished its Turkey outing with a draw and win against Romania as the first game ended with a 3-3 draw and the second saw the Indians seal a 1-0 victory.

Head coach Thomas Dennerby stated that the experience has made the players "more confident" and helped them inculcate a winning feeling in the team. 

"The girls are more confident now. The matches have helped us develop a good feeling and help with team-building. To win games is always important and when you have that good feeling, you want to experience it again," the former Sweden and Nigeria women's teams head coach stated.

"By playing here, we found that our stamina and endurance is better now. The other team was more tired than we were during and after the games. Now, we go back to Goa again and keep training harder as we have been."

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After the first match against Romania, Dennerby had stressed on the importance of being more organised in defence and the subsequent game saw the girls register a clean sheet in their victory.

Speaking about his takeaways from the match, he said, "We had a really good game. The defence was very solid with good positioning and good decision-making from everyone. The attacking game was also good with quicker decision-making and passing play."

"We had some really good attacks from the wings that created many chances. Only thing I can perhaps complain about is that we could have scored more goals," he added.

Dennerby also spoke about being more clinical in front of goal as the team continues its preparation for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, which is scheduled to kick-off on November 2 across five cities -- Guwahati, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Navi Mumbai.

He continued, "In the second game, we improved. Still, we have to be a little bit more focused and make the most of the chances we get. When we play against the best teams in the world, we need to take the opportunities we get and need more sharpness in the box, perhaps."

"We are taking steps towards our ultimate goal. It's a team in progress and we know for sure that we can do even better in the future," he rounded off, with a smile.