U-17 Women's World Cup: India no match for USA

Dennerby's girls go down 0-8 in their opening tieBHUBANESWAR: It was an almost full house at Kalinga Stadium, mostly filled up by schoolchildren, who egged India on in their opening match of the Fifa U-17 Women's World Cup against the US. But the home support did not have much bearing on their performance as, in the end, the difference in quality proved too great for India as they were beaten 0-8 in the second match of Group A here on Tuesday.

While they had just two shots on target, the best move of the game for India came early on when Neha made a run from midfield into the opposition box in the fifth minute. But the pressure of a World Cup match took a toll on the midfielder as she stumbled at the last minute to the delight of US custodian Victoria Safradin. From then on, the match belonged to the visitors as they kept drilling one goal after the other at regular intervals. While Melina Rebimbas hit a brace, the other scorers hit one strike each to give the runners-up of the inaugural U-17 World Cup the start they had expected ahead of their second game against Brazil.

The breakthrough came in the 9th minute when Gisele Thompson created a move from the right flank and sent a cross to Rebimbas who sent an overhead volley past India goalkeeper Anjali Munda. The first goal spurred the US players on and they scored the second seven minutes later as Charlotte Kohler headed in a corner kick from Riley Jackson. The third US strike came in the 23rd minute from the feet of player-of-the-match Onyeka Gamero. With the score reading 0-3 inside the first 25 minutes, the Indian girls looked listless and began to even lose their shape, something that was taken advantage of by their opposition.

Despite what the scoreline