By Joseph Solomon,

AIFF Media Team

WEI FANG (CHINA): After scripting their first win of the AFC U-16 Qualifiers, the Indian U-16 Women’s National Team, riding high on confidence, will face whipping ‘girls’ of Group B Northern Mariana Islands on September 03, 2016. The kick-off for which is at IST 8:30AM.

A dominant second half performance by the Indian girls led them to a thumping 5-1 win over Malaysia, after the half-time scoreline read 1-1, courtesy of a hattrick by Renu and goals by Thailand Devi and Soumya Guguloth.

“We did not play upto the mark in the first half and we stepped up our game in the second half to get the result”, said Maymol Rocky, Head Coach of the Indian U-16 Women’s National Team, reflecting on India’s win.

“We could have scored even more goals had we taken all our chances”

Complementing Renu’s performance, Maymol quipped, “Renu has a lot of potential and her hattrick against Malaysia has certainly shown that”

The domination of the Indian girls was such that the Indian defence line was literally always inside the Malaysian half in the second half of the match, while the centre back pairing of Janaki Muru and Samiksha mopped up any rare Malaysian attacks.

“The defence did its job. They played with heart and determination and were compact throughout the game”

“We conceded the goal because of complacency by the Goalkeeper, apart from that we were fantastic in defence”, Maymol added.

Next up for the Indian girls is Northern Mariana Islands, a Team that has lost all three of its matches.

“We will go into the game with a psychological advantage, but we have to focus on the task at hand and work to improve our goal difference”

The Indian U-16 Team is currently placed third, with three points and a goal difference of +2, in Group B of the AFC U16 Qualifiers behind leaders Korea Republic and second placed Philippines.

“In Football any underdog is capable of defeating the favourites and hence we must not fall prey to complacency”

“They (Northern Mariana Islands) play on the counter-attack and our defenders will have to be on their toes”

“We respect our opponents, but we will play to win the match”, Maymol informed.

Renu, who scored her first hattrick on an International stage, meanwhile is gunning to go against the Northern Mariana Island defence. “I will give it my cent percent against them (Northern Mariana Islands) too and hope to score many goals”

“The confidence in the Team is certainly high and now we must build on it by grabbing our second win”, Renu added.