Hyderabad: Coach Sjolde Malini started his second spell in charge with an impressive performance as the Indian women’s football team had no trouble qualifying for this year’s World Cup.The girls put in a stellar performance despite losing 2-0 to England in their FIH World Cup qualifying final on Saturday night.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!The Dutchman is impressed with his new batch, although it’s still a work in progress. “We were focused and had a good game (in the final). But of course, we still have a lot to improve. This is our first game together,” Marijne said, adding that he wanted to see how the girls would react under pressure.“I saw how the girls reacted in the semi-finals and the final. I’m happy that we played a good team in the final. I saw how they performed under pressure, which you can’t do in training camp. You can’t create that pressure. So it was good. Then I could see a lot of things and I kept it to myself,” he added.The team is both young and experienced, with a fluid midfield and a strong defense. Despite winning 37 corner kicks, far more than their opponents, they could only score six. In the final, they had four. While the British modified two of their PCs, India balked. In the semifinals, they converted just one of nine PCs.However, Malini was impressed with the way the girls created their chances. “The PC switch is a problem. There’s a lot of room for improvement. But if you don’t create opportunities, I would be worried. If you don’t create PCs, you don’t break the line, then we’re really going to have problems. But we created opportunities even under pressure. On the technical side, we need to do better. Decision-making needs to be better. We need to take a better position in the circle. “The coach said.Apart from his hat-trick against Wales, Navneet Kaul also missed a few chances. But she led the attack well alongside Lal Remsiami. Midfielders Salima Tait, Sunelita Tobo and Sakshi Rana did a good job keeping the ball and feeding the forwards.The fact that England conceded just 10 corners in five games and barely penetrated the box in the third and fourth quarters of the final showed just how effective the Indian defenders of Sushila Chanu, Udita, Nikki Pradhan, Manisha and Ishika were throughout the week.Salima cited some positives. “With a lot of new girls and a new coach, I thought it was going to be difficult. But I’m happy with the way we adjusted. Whatever mistakes we made here, I’m sure we’ll correct them in the next game,” Salima added.
