CHENNAI: International football returns to Chennai after 15 years when Indian women host Nepal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Wednesday in the first of the two friendlies in the lead-up to the Olympic qualifiers. The second friendly will be played at the same venue on Saturday.
The last time an international match was played in Chennai was in May, 2008 (the friendly between India men's team and Chinese Taipei which ended in a 2-2 draw). After that, matches were not scheduled in Chennai because of infighting in the Tamil Nadu Football Association (TFA).
Former TFA president and All India Football Federation (AIFF) vice-president CR Vishwanathan was instrumental in bringing international matches to Chennai on a regular basis. Under his leadership at TFA Chennai hosted prestigious events like Olympic Qualifiers in which India played North Korea and Thailand in 2007 at the Nehru Stadium. The historic Nehru Stadium also hosted the Nehru Cup international tournament in 1993, the Jayalalitha Gold Cup international women's tournament in 1994, SAF Games in 1995, and many pre-Olympic and pre-World Cup matches.
But things started to change after his ouster from TFA and the association got entangled in numerous court cases due to infighting between factions. It was due to this reason Chennai missed out from hosting U-17 World Cup matches in 2017. All that seems a thing of the past with an elected body led by president Jeshia Villavarayar in charge.
For India these two friendlies against Nepal are a good chance to prepare for the Olympic Qualifiers, scheduled to be played in April this year. They are in Group G of the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifiers first round, alongside Turkmenistan and the Kyrgyz Republic. The Indian team has been undergoing a conditioning camp in Chennai for the last one month, along with the U-20 and U-17 teams.
India had lost to Nepal in the semifinals of 2022 SAFF Women's Championships in Kathmandu, so it won't be an easy match on Wednesday.
"We are not looking for results at the moment. Our main aim is to build the team for the Olympic Qualifiers, and these matches (friendly against Nepal) are part of that process," Dennerby told the reporters on Tuesday.
Though India start favourites against Nepal, they have shown great resurgence in the recent past, knocking out India U-20 women's team from the SAFF U-20 Championship with 3-1 win.
"Nepal are a good side, of course, and it will be a good opportunity for our girls to come back to the pace of international football," the India coach added.
For Nepal, these two friendlies throw up an opportunity to build on the SAFF Cup win against India and continue their successful journey.
"It's very helpful for us that we are getting the two matches here against India. We want to thank the organisers for making all the effort to host us for these matches. We have played India a few times before. They are a good side, but we are preparing well for them. We won last time and would love to continue on that," said Nepal coach Anant Thapa.
