Hosts India held by brave Iran

The match ends in a 0-0 draw at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Hosts India held by brave Iran
©AFC

NAVI MUMBAI: It could have been anyone's game. Both, host's India and the Iran Islamic Republic had their moments but eventually, the face-off between both ended 0-0 in the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022.

To many who saw the game, India actually failed to drive home the advantage after being a case of so near and yet so far.

So, what went wrong, rather where was the shortfall? Was it Iran as newbies and fuelled with desire wanting to make an impact, was it their defence who stood up or was it that the day was meant to be shared?

India had the better chances, but Iran's tenacious defending kept the hosts at bay as both teams prepare for their Matchday Two ties.

Iran, competing in their inaugural AFC Women's Asian Cup, found themselves on the back foot as India began aggressively, with attacks coming from the flanks.

 In the second minute, Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi's run down the left caught Iran off guard, but the midfielder's effort was easily cleared by goalkeeper Zohreh Koudaei.

Iran was put under pressure again two minutes later when India's Manisha Kalyan sent a lovely cross to Pyari Xaxa, who headed wide.

Maryam Irandoost's team saw very little of the ball as India controlled the pace of the game, although they could have taken the lead against the run of play in the 12th minute from a set-piece.

Samaneh Chahkandi played a lovely ball into the box for Negin Zandi, whose looping header beat India goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan only to hit the crossbar.

India, on the other hand, continued to dominate, but the South Asians missed multiple chances, with Indumathi Kathiresan and Kalyan blasting their efforts over the bar as the score remained 0-0 at halftime.

Just after the hour mark, Kathiresan made a dashing run down the left after connecting up brilliantly with Xaxa, but her effort was undone when she hammered the ball into the side netting from close range.

As Iran continued to hold out, Koudaei had to be on her toes a minute later when she denied Kathiresan from inside the box.

India was denied what appeared to be a certain goal in the 77th minute when substitute Manisha Panna produced a lovely cross to Dangmei Grace, whose close-range header was saved by Koudaei with a one-handed save.

Dennerby's India will be looking for their first win when they meet Chinese Taipei on Sunday, while Iran will face eight-time champion China PR.

LINE-UPS

INDIA: 1-Aditi Chauhan; 17-Dalima Chibber, 3-Manisa Panna, 4-Ashalata Devi, 8-Sanju Yadav; 7-Ratanbala Devi (S. Kumari  82nd), 13-Sandhiya Ranganathan (Dangmei Grace 55th), 12-Indumathi Kathiresan, 9-Anju Tamang, 16-Manisha Kalyan (Shilky Devi 82nd); 10-Pyari Xaxa (Renu 65th)

IRAN: 1-Zohrei Koudaei; 4-Melikka Motevalli, 5-Ghazaleh Banitalebi, 6-Zahra Sarbali (M. Nikkhah 59th), 8-Behnaz Taherkhani, 11-Samaneh Chahkandi (Z. Masoumi 59th), 17-Negin Zandi (A. Chatrenoor 88th), 18-Melika Mohammadi, 19-Fatemah Adeli, 20-Hajjar Dabbaghi (S. Zohrabi 70th), 23-Sana Sadeghi (Y. Farmani 70th)

(SRIKANT IYER)