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The Indian women's football team were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Swedish top division side Djurgården IF in a friendly fixture in Stockholm on Saturday afternoon. Fanny Lång's flamboyant goal, scored directly from a corner kick, was enough to seal the win for the hosts.
This was India's second and final friendly of their Sweden tour after going down 2-3 to Hammarby on Wednesday. Both Hammarby and Djurgården are clubs from Damallsvenskan - Sweden's top division of women's football.
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Thomas Dennerby made four changes to the starting lineup from Wednesday's friendly. Notably,16-year-old Astam Oraon was handed only her second start for India and Shreya Hooda replaced Aditi Chauhan in goal.
Special occasion for coach Dennerby and unmatched support for team India
It was a homecoming for India's coach Thomas Dennerby, who managed Djurgården back in 2004 and took them to the UEFA Women's Cup final.
Saturday's friendly took place at a historic venue, the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. This stadium had hosted the 1912 Olympic Games and has been the home of Djurgården since 1936.
India enjoyed amazing support from a few hundred Indian fans in the stands. Chants of "India! India!" were heard throughout the match. The match was also attended by Tanmaya Lal, India's ambassador to Sweden.
The match was a tale of two halves
Kicking off in chilly conditions at 3°C, the hosts dominated possession in the first half and regularly threatened the Indian defense from the left flank. Young goalkeeper Shreya Hooda had a great match as she pulled off a number of really brilliant saves to keep the scores level.
India, operating on the counter, missed a glorious opportunity to take the lead when Pyari Xaxa couldn't find the net from Sanju Devi's delivery. The hosts kept knocking on the door and hit the post at the half-hour mark before Ashalata Devi cleared the danger.
The breakthrough finally arrived for Djurgården in the 44th minute. Fanny Lång curled in an elegant finish directly from a corner to put the hosts 1-0 ahead at the break.
India were much sharper going forward in the second half. The game stretched out and there was a lot of end-to-end action. Dennerby made changes in defense at the hour-mark with Michel Castanha and Ranjana Chanu coming on. Young forward Sumati Kumari was also given crucial minutes as she replaced Dangmei Grace.
The Blue Tigresses pushed hard for an equalizer and created half chances from dead ball situations. Indumathi Kathiresan's free kick was well saved by the Djurgården goalkeeper. Meanwhile Manisha Kalyan had her long range effort sail over the crossbar.
In the end, the home side held on for a slender 1-0 win. With this, the Indian team's international tour of three different countries came to an end. Dennerby's side wrap it up with three wins (over UAE, Bahrain and Chinese Taipei) and three losses (to Tunisia, Hammarby and Djurgården).
India had a total of 12 goals scored by seven different scorers (Xaxa, Kalyan, Sweety, Anju, Basfore, Indumathi, Renu and Panna).
The Blue Tigresses will now return to India on October 25th. They will continue their preparatory camp for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup to be held in India in January.
