Youth Incorporated Magazine

As we all always pick up our phones to put up stories and tweets congratulating the Indian Cricket team and few other favoured sports tournaments like Pro Kabbadi and IPL, for even their minor victories, let us all do the same for our Indian Women’s Football team. 

Why?

Well because they have received the special third-place trophy due to their striking performance in the COTIF Cup. The tournament’s president was so impressed that despite there being no prize for the third position, he awarded the team a special third-place trophy.

In the COTIF Cup, India played four matches, out of which they won two and lost two. They won two matches against Mauritania (3-1) and Bolivia (7-0). On the other hand, they lost two against Villarreal (0-2 ) and Spain (U-19).

The COTIF is an international invitational football tournament for the youth. The tournament is held annually in  L’Alcúdia, Valencia, Spain. The first tournament was held in 1984. It is in 2012 from when the tournament also started conducting a senior women’s football tournament.

After India’s performance this year, everyone was of the opinion that India played its best this time as compared to its performance in the past years.

Sources state that the team’s coach Maymol Rocky agreed “Our performances were much better this time, and the organisers of the tournament took note of that,”. Adding further, she also said that, “Even the two matches that we lost against Villarreal and Spain were close encounters, and they really appreciated the improvement we’ve shown in the last one year.”

Maymol Rocky herself is the first female and present head coach of India women’s national football team, which makes this victory even more special. 

The performance that the Indian girls put up this time in the tournament left all stunned and impressed COTIF president Eliseu Gmez Tormos. As stated by the sources, Tormos said, “The organisation has valued the immense progress made by the Indian women’s team over the last year. They have been a combative side with a warrior spirit that has made the fans here at COTIF fall in love with them.”

“For all this, we have given them the prize for the national team that has behaved in the most sporting manner in the event, and I hope that they can come back here next year and repeat their performance once again in 2020. For all that India has offered us, and for being a revelation this year, I would like to thank them,” he further stated.

It is extremely worthy to note that, never in the history of the tournament was a trophy given out for a third position. It was this first time.