Blue Tigresses up for Uzbek challenge

Bengaluru: The Indian women’s football team will take on Uzbekistan in the first of the two international friendly matches here on Friday as part of preparations for the upcoming AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026 qualifiers.

The Blue Tigresses are set to play the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers from June 23 to July 5..

India head coach Crispin Chettri said at the pre-match press conference they are preparing in earnest for the upcoming assignments.

“We are moving in the right direction. The team have had almost 25 days of preparation, everything’s going as per the expectations,” Chettri said.

Since Chettri took over as the head coach in February, the women’s team has seen a transition to a much younger squad, .

“It’s a mixed bunch that we have. While there are many youngsters, we also have some seniors like Panthoi (Chanu Elangbam), Grace (Dangmei), Sweety (Devi Ngangbam), Anju (Tamang), and Ratan (Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi). We are without the likes of Ashalata (Devi Loitongbam), Dalima (Chhibber), Aditi (Chauhan), and Indu (Indumathi

Kathiresan).”