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.
“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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