AFC Women’s Asian Cup: India 0-0 Iran

India’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup tie against Iran ended in a 0-0 draw. The Blue Tigresses were dominant for the majority of the game, but were unlucky in front of goal and could not find the back of the net to take all three points from the game. 

In the second half in particular, the hosts had a number of golden opportunities but were wasteful, and that allowed Iran to hold on and salvage a point even though they weren’t the better team at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. 

India earn a point in first Group A match 

Iran actually had the upper hand in the opening minutes of the game. They had a couple of opportunities, one of which struck the crossbar. But thereon, they were unable to make their mark on the game and had to settle for a point as India took charge of the game until the very end. 

Indian head coach Thomas Dennerby said ahead of the tournament that the quarter finals would be a reasonable target to work towards. And with their first point in the group, India have something to show for their first 90 minutes. 

Dennerby hopes that the team will try to play a more possession based style from their next game, which is something that needs to improve in terms of creativity. 

India are set to face Chinese Taipei on Sunday to try and win their first game of the tournament, while Iran are up against 8-time champions China PR.