Pritika's promise comes true as India U-17 women savour historic quarters entry

India striker Pritika Barman had promised herself the night before that she would score the opening goal in the Young Tigresses' must-win clash against Lebanon in the AFC Women's U-17 Women's Asian Cup group match here on Friday. The 16-year-old delivered just that and also added the fourth in a historic 4-0 victory that sent India into the AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup quarter-finals for the first time. India needed a win to progress as one of the two best third-placed teams and responded with an inspired attacking display that also brought their first goals in the tournament since 2005. Pritika revealed after the match that she had already visualised the moment before stepping onto the pitch. ''We have team meetings every night, and last night I had already made up my mind that I was going to score the first goal,'' said the West Bengal forward. ''And I did score the first goal. It felt really good. After that, I thought to myself that I should score even more goals, and that is how I scored again.'' The striker said the team entered the game knowing there was no room for error. ''It feels really good. I scored two goals, and we played really well. We had to win this match, so everyone gave their absolute best. Because we gave our best, we played very well and scored goals,'' she said. Alva Devi Senjam, who doubled India's lead before half-time, said belief inside the squad played a huge role in the breakthrough result. ''I felt very excited today because the coaches were encouraging from outside the pitch throughout the game,'' Alva said. ''I didn't start very well in the first half an hour, had some mistouches, but still believed that I would score at least one goal today, and that belief helped me find the net.'' The 15-year-old winger, who has become a regular starter under head coach Pamela Conti this year, explained how she decided to go for goal herself after initially looking for a pass. ''When Redima passed me the ball, my first thought was to pass it to Julan, but then I changed my mind and decided to dribble and go for the goal myself,'' she said. ''The team's plan today was to keep taking shots and keep trying for goals. I believed that if I kept trying, at least one will come, and that's exactly what happened.'' The celebrations after the final whistle turned emotional as players and coaches embraced each other near the centre circle. ''The mood of the whole team is very good right now because we won by a big margin,'' Alva said. ''We are very happy, and we will work even harder in the quarter-final against China. We deserve to be here. ''I want to dedicate the goal to the head coach.'' India will face hosts China in the quarter-finals on May 11 (5pm IST), with a place in the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup at stake. The match will be streamed live on the AFC Asian Cup YouTube Channel.

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