Blue Tigresses finish runners-up in Turkish Women’s Cup
India’s valiant efforts to win their first-ever senior women’s title outside the SAFF region got swept aside by an injury-time goal in their concluding round-robin Turkish Women’s Cup match against Kosovo at the Gold City Complex on Tuesday.
While the 1-0 victory, thanks to a skillful effort by Ereleta Memeti, propelled Kosovo to nine points from three matches and gave them their second title in a row, India finished runners-up with six points. It was the Blue Tigresses’ best performance in the Turkish Women’s Cup in three appearances.
India’s Manisha Kalyan was adjudged the best midfielder of the tournament for her exemplary display throughout the competition.
It was a do-or-die match for India. Nothing short of three points was enough for them to win the cup. For Kosovo, a team, that last tasted defeat in November 2022 (1-3 against Slovenia), a draw was enough, though they did even better.
Seeking better stability in front of their own back four, India made one change to the starting XI from their previous match against Hong Kong: Sangita Basfore replaced Karthika Angamuthu to slot into the number six role.
The Blue Tigresses were happy to keep their shape and contain Kosovo, though the epicentre of the battle was quite far from the Indian box. India, while sitting on a mid-press on most occasions, chose their moments to impose a high press on the Kosovo back-four, a tactic that yielded several chances and also served to confuse the opposition defence.
Soumya Guguloth had the best chance of the first half and perhaps even the game on the quarter-hour mark, when Pyari Xaxa managed to steal the ball at the edge of the Kosovo box, before playing it to Indumathi Kathiresan, who threaded a delicate through ball between the lines, to Soumya behind the defence.
