India in AFC Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers: Blue Tigresses hope to continue winning form against Timor Leste
After a record-breaking win in the campaign opener, the Indian senior women’s team will look to continue the winning momentum in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers when it takes on Timor Leste on Sunday at the 700th Anniversary of Chiang Mai Stadium.
The five-team Group B is currently led by Iraq, which is on four points after a 5-2 victory over Mongolia and a 0-0 draw with Timor Leste. India, which beat Mongolia 13-0, and Thailand, which beat Timor Leste 4-0, are on three points each.
Despite Timor Leste being ranked 158th, 32 places below Mongolia, Indian coach Crispin Chettri believed that the Southeast Asian side would pose a stronger challenge. Having watched all teams in action after the first two matchdays, there’s now a much clearer assessment of all the remaining three opponents.
“Timor Leste are a better organised team than Mongolia, and I feel they are better organised defensively than Iraq as well. They prefer going for counter-attacks. They don’t mind keeping the ball either. So, in patches, they are good. But as Thailand dominated the match completely, we can’t say much about their attack. But they have got pace in their team as well,” said Chettri.
Chettri and his coaching staff were in attendance on Thursday as Timor Leste restricted 46th-ranked Thailand to four goals.
India, ranked 70, has never faced Timor Leste before.
Coached by Indonesian Emral bin Bustamam, Timor Leste has been more active in international football as compared to Mongolia. It finished fourth in the 2024 AFF Women’s Cup, where it drew against Laos and Singapore.
It has played in four editions of the ASEAN Women’s Championship, and the 2-1 win over Singapore in 2019 remains the only official victory in its history. The 0-0 draw with Iraq on Monday was its first-ever point in an AFC competition.
