Kamal Ghorui
Panaji: Pamela Conti’s career has taken her to different corners of the world. With 90 caps and 30 goals for the Italy national team, several league titles, individual trophies, besides U-20 FIFA World Cup qualification as Venezuela coach, she has enough laurels as player and coach to last a lifetime.The Italian is now keen to write a “beautiful chapter” with India at the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup.“We would like to create history and move to the next stage,” the India U-17 coach told TOI over a video call on Saturday. “For all of us, it’s our dream to go to the World Cup with India. We know it’s complicated, know it’s hard, but we believe in this dream.”India have qualified for the continental competition for the first time in 21 years, having topped a group that included Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan. At the AFC U-17 Women’s Asian Cup in China later this week, the Young Tigresses will encounter heavyweights Australia (May 2), Japan (May 5) and debutants Lebanon (May 8).India’s group has two of the top four teams. Four-time champions Japan were runnersup in 2024, while Australia are among the favourites to qualify. It’s not going to be easy, but with the knockout stage of the competition accommodating two of the three best third-placed teams, there’s hope. One win in the quarterfinals and you book a World Cup spot.“Many may think we are unlucky because it’s a tough group, but I count ourselves lucky because it’s not always that you play against the best players in the world. This will be a great experience for the youngsters, and a fine opportunity to see where we stand, what we need to do to move to the next level. We will surely be very competitive,” said Conti, who hails from Sicily, a region known for its strong grassroots culture.The former Italy striker said India won’t be at the Asian Cup just to make up the numbers or defend with lines of five. “I have a good feeling about the tournament as we want to prove we are a good team,” she said, adding that if her team loses, “it will be with dignity” against the big guns of world football.Conti took charge of the national team a little over three months ago and kickstarted her assignment with gold at the SAFF U-19 Championship, despite fielding an under-17 team. Later, there were encouraging wins against Myanmar, until Russia handed a reality check in freezing Sochi as India drew a blank in all three games and conceded ten.For Conti, the results were an aberration.“You can look at the results and say we lost three games (without scoring) but that’s a lie,” explained Conti. “We lost due to small mistakes of our own, lack of experience, and really improved with every outing after studying the opponents. The Russian players were born in 2009, and we had only three in that age group. Our players are born in 2010 and 2011.“At this age, one or two years makes a lot of difference. If India play Russia in the same age group, we won’t lose. I told the players not to worry about the results. We are learning, improving, and the (big) victories are not too far away.”For Conti to write a beautiful chapter, India will need the wins in China.
