Though the U-17 Women’s World Cup was eight months away, most of the qualifying competitions leading up to the tournament were yet to take place.
India U-17 women's football team. (File Photo: IANS)
India Under-17 women’s football team head coach Thomas Dennerby has said that the postponement and announcement of the new dates for the upcoming FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup amid the COVID-19 crisis has rejuvenated the girls to continue their preparation for the tournament.
“The first step was to get a definitive answer about the new dates for the World Cup. You can prepare all you want, but the moment we got a definitive date from FIFA – it really rejuvenated everyone,” Dennerby said in a live session on the Indian Football Team Facebook page.
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“Yes, we have lost sometime during the Lockdown, but that is something that everyone has to go through. Besides that, the postponement of the tournament has compensated for this period, I feel,” said Dennerby, who had guided Sweden to a third-place finish in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011.
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“In our webinars and meetings, we could really see that the girls found that glimmer back in their eyes. Yes, a deadline and a target can do wonders,” he said.
The All India Football Federation and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, which was due to be held in India from November 2 to 21 in 2020, announced earlier this month that the tournament would now be played between February 17 and March 21 in 2021.
FIFA-Confederations working group, which was established by the Bureau of the FIFA Council to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, had taken the decision to postpone the multi-nation event in early April, considering the deteriorating situation across the world caused by the novel coronavirus.
Though the U-17 Women’s World Cup was eight months away, most of the qualifying competitions leading up to the tournament were yet to take place.
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