Smarting from a disappointing 0-1 defeat to Bangladesh, India eyes full points in their next game against Nepal in the U-19 Women's SAFF Championship, to be played in Dhaka on February 6, Tuesday. (More Football News)
India conceded an injury-time goal to leave the field empty-handed against the hosts on Sunday.
Despite the Young Tigresses delivering a strong performance against the home team, the match appeared destined for a draw.
However, in the closing moments, Bangladesh emerged successful once again over India.
“We entered the match with confidence, expecting a victory, but a minor error cost us the game. Despite a number of attempts on goal, our own mistakes stopped us from capitalising on those opportunities. While our defence was solid, our focus remained on attacking,” said Neha.
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“Our strategy was to leverage our strengths, but unfortunately, we fell short. Bangladesh proved to be faster, and we knew they had a lot of speed, and regardless of my effort in the first half, my shot from the left turned into a low strike, missing the goal. Although we executed good crosses, they went unconverted,” she added.
The challenge for the Indian players would be to quickly put behind this loss and focus on the next game here at the BSSSMK Stadium.
In the previous SAFF U-19 Women’s Championship 2019, India secured a victory over Nepal with a solitary goal before advancing to face Bangladesh in the final.
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A similar scenario will unfold if India secure either a draw or a win against Nepal.
Meanwhile, Haryana's Neha found her way into football under the influence of Renu, who also comes from her locality and is a striker in the senior national women's team.
Drawing inspiration from forward Manisha Kalyan, Neha said, "I aspire to challenge Manisha Di someday, who is my idol."
