Bhubaneswar, Nov 2: Even after winning 5-1 Friday, Indian women almost squandered the chance of making it to Tokyo. Just when that the match was gradually going away from the India’s grip, skipper Rani Rampal’s 49th minute strike on the top corner of the goal ensured that India would play the final round in Tokyo even after a 1-4 thrashing at the Kalinga Stadium Saturday. India won 6-5 on aggregate.
Four goals in the first half from Amanda Magadan (fifth, 28th), skipper Kathleen Sharkey (14th) and Alyssa Parker (20th) put the Americans on 5-5 level but it was the India captain’s brilliance that saw them through. Finding the roof of the net past USA custodian Kelsey Bing actually sealed the deal for India. It will be Indian women’s third Olympics in the history. India’s first appearance was back in 1980 before qualifying for the second time after 36 years in the last edition in 2016 in Rio.
The game was also memorable for the Indian midfielder Monika who played her 150th match for the national side. Unlike in the first leg, the visitors were clearly the dominant side in the match in the first two quarters scoring four goals to dent India’s hopes. They had more ball possession, penetrated in the opposition circle on most occasions and were fast moving. On the other hand, India lacked confidence. En route they squandered all their penalty corners — four in total. Gurjit Kaur was the culprit on those occasions.
However, things changed for better after the lemon break for the hosts as Rani & Co. started raiding the opposition box for the first time in the evening. With just final eleven minutes to go, came the magic moment as Rani’s blistering strike sealed the fate. USA did refer to the video umpire twice in search of penalty corners but their appeals were turned down.
Now, India need to sit down and collate all their mistakes. Head coach Sjoerd Marijne also admitted that Indian team were totally off the blocks in the first half. “We made too many errors in the first half. Even I was confused where to start from. But at the half time I told the girls, ‘we are locked at 0-0 and we still have 30 more minutes to change our fate. The girls responded to that and we scored in the 49th through Rani’,” the Dutch coach said.
Koushik Paul
