India Vs Australia Live Streaming, AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup: Preview, Where To Watch

India will face formidable Australia in their opening group match of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup football tournament in Suzhou (China) on Saturday.

It will be India’s first appearance at the U17 Women’s Asian Cup since 2005, marking the end of a 21-year wait at this level.

More significantly, it completes a rare and historic sequence in 2026 as it is India's third women's Asian Cup appearance, following the senior team and the U20 side.

Australia are one of the established football countries in Asia and they have reached the semifinals of the tournament on two earlier occasions.

They will be looking to take one of the four sports for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.

But, underdogs India have nothing to lose against their more fancied opponents in the Group B match.

India head coach Pamela Conti underlined the mood in the camp ahead of the opening match.

“I think everyone is excited and really eager for it to start. We’ve been working for a long time, for many months. But it’s always a great feeling to play in important international tournaments, especially representing a big, big country like India. So yes, we are ready for it,” she said.

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Since January, the Young Tigresses have been in the camp, primarily based in Bengaluru, focusing on physical, technical, and tactical development.

They arrive in China after a series of competitive tours -- winning the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship in February, securing two victories against fellow Asian Cup qualifying side Myanmar in Yangon in March, and testing themselves in the three friendly games against Russia in Sochi in April.

“The first few days it rained a lot, and it got cold. But now the sun is out. I think the players just needed to make some final adjustments, because we have already done a lot of work in India and in Russia. Now we are ready,” said Conti.

The focus, lately, has been on the details, explained the Italian coach, who previously led Venezuela to the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup.

“We've mostly been working on the tactical side, because the physical work had already been done earlier. We didn't want to push too hard physically in these last few days, so that the players don’t feel too heavy.” Midfielder Julan Nongmaithem, who captained India in both qualifying matches in Kyrgyzstan last year, echoed the sense of readiness and responsibility.

“It feels really good to be here. We have been preparing for this for a long time, and now, finally, the day has come. We have to prove why we trained so hard.

“I’m also very excited because this is my first time playing in a big tournament like the Asian Cup. It’s a great opportunity, and we want to show that we are capable of performing at this level," added the 15-year-old Julan, who is the only member of the U17 squad with a senior cap to her name, earned in a friendly against Nepal last year.

The top two teams of each of the three groups and the two best third-placed teams qualify for the quarter finals.