Vincenzo Annese, the men’s team coach for Gokulam Kerala FC, took his time off to watch women play as well. At least three players caught his eye but got national calls as they did well in the league.
“These players were unavailable because their assignments clashed with the AFC Women’s Club Championship,” said club president VC Praveen.
The Indian Women’s League (IWL) champions ended up signing five of them from four different continents. The foreign players include Win Theingi Tun (Myanmar), Susan Duah and Elshaddai Acheampong (both Ghana), Adriana Tirado (Puerto Rico) and Karen Steffany (Colombia).
“The key to our success will be the combination and understanding with the foreigners,” coach PV Priya said. “If we get it right, we have a chance. Our (foreign) players are good, but maybe they’ll need time to succeed.”
“I am not worried about the domestic players. Since there are 10 from the national team who have been training and playing together, we have an advantage. But we need to align different playing styles,” said Priya.
“We are preparing to become champions,” said Praveen. “Whenever we play, our thinking is to go for victory. We won the women’s league in our second season and the need of the hour is to take women’s football to the next level.
“It’s true that one of our shortcomings has been that we do not have enough time to train (with the full team) since the national camp is being held simultaneously. But we cannot discount the fact that these players now have gained so much experience playing internationally.”
“We have told the girls that winning is not just important for the club and the state but also Indian football. When we started (the women’s team in Kerala), there were few players, but our league triumph made a lot of difference.
“Now there are about 20-15 good players. Kerala is starting a women's league too with seven or eight teams. That’s a big change. Our triumph in Jordan can be a game-changer,” said Praveen.
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