India outplayed Chinese Taipei 3-1 to keep their knockout hopes alive at the AFC U20 Women\u2019s Asian Cup at the Pathum Thani Stadium<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the Indian’s first win in Group C, but they will have to wait for the deciding Group B match between Uzbekistan and Jordan to confirm a quarter-final stage spot as one of the two best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese Taipei\u2019s Liao Jie-Ning had the first shot at goal in the second minute when she came down the left unchecked, but the midfielder dragged her shot wide of the right post from the edge of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The East Asian side\u2019s forward momentum left gaps in their defence, allowing India\u2019s Anju Chanu and Sulanjana Raul to both rattle keeper Jian Yu-Jie within the span of a minute, while Lhingdeikim Kipgen ghosted past the defence in the 15th minute only to volley straight at the custodian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liao forced a great save from India\u2019s second-choice keeper Ribansi Jamu in the 20th minute when she capitalised on consecutive defensive errors to fire from inside the area, with Jamu instinctively reaching out and pushing her shot away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India\u2019s persistence paid off in the 26th minute as Bhumika Khumukcham\u2019s shot from outside the six-yard area took a deflection off forward Huang I-Pin and, with Jian caught off-position, crashed into the top left corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sibani Devi needed no assistance, however, in doubling India\u2019s advantage eight minutes later when off a cross by Shubhangi Singh, she burst down the left and fought off a helpless Huang for the ball before sending a brilliant first-timer past a diving Jian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jamu made another fine save in the 40th minute by tipping over skipper Li Chun-Mei\u2019s thunderous free-kick from 35 yards out to maintain her side\u2019s two-goal lead going into the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese Taipei laid siege on India\u2019s goalmouth in the second half but Fu Chih-Ling, Chuan Tzu-Yu and Lo Yu-Hsiu all failed to convert their chances while Thoibisana Chanu and Devi squandered their attempts at the other end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jian made timely saves from Pooja, Devi and Neha Sillay to prevent India from extending their lead, but the South Asian side sealed the win when they were awarded a 87th-minute penalty for Lin Pin-Hsin\u2019s handball, with Devi making no mistake from the spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese Taipei pulled one back three minutes into stoppage time through forward Kao Hsin, but it proved too little, too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Japan sealed top spot in Group C with a 5-2 defeat of Australia at the Nonthaburi Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The six-time champions will now face either the third place side from Group A or B, while Australia will take on the Group B winners<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan threatened early, with Mao Itamura racing down the left in the fifth minute from Rinka Higuchi\u2019s through ball, but she could not get the better of defender Rubi Maye Sullivan, who cleared the danger from outside the six-yard box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The duo caused another scare for Australia in the 12th minute when Itamura surged forward to meet Higuchi\u2019s cross, but after outpacing several defenders, the number 10 sent her effort wide to the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Itamura continued to apply pressure and almost broke through in the 20th minute when Shelby McMahon fumbled while attempting to clear her effort, but Australian goalkeeper Ilona Melegh came to the rescue and gathered the ball safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melegh remained busy between the sticks as Japan continued to press, with further attempts from defenders Mone Sato and Yuna Aoki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Matildas finally had their first real chance in the 37th minute when Peta Trimis\u2019s cross from the right flank found Skye Halmarick in the centre of the box, but her effort was denied by Japan goalkeeper Uruha Iwasaki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But just two minutes later, Alexander Epakis\u2019s side took the lead when Avaani Prakash received Halmarick\u2019s short pass, evaded three Japanese defenders and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japan, however, did not have to trail for long as just seconds before the half-time whistle, Noa Fukushima made the most of Itamura\u2019s long-range pass, firing a diagonal shot into the bottom right corner to restore parity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven minutes after the restart, Japan went ahead as Miyu Matsunaga set up Fukushima, who beat Melegh at the goalmouth in a one-on-one situation to find the back of the net for the second time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Five minutes past the hour mark, Natsumi Tago added the third for Japan after Matsunaga intercepted Sullivan\u2019s pass to Alexia Apostolakis and played it through to the number 11, who calmly buried the ball into the centre of the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continuing to apply pressure on the 2024 semi-finalists, Akira Ijiri\u2019s side almost added another in the 73rd minute when Fukushima\u2019s cross from the right found substitute Anon Tsuda inside the box, but the striker sent her shot over the crossbar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miki Kimura added the fourth in the 80th minute, striking from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner, and four minutes later, she struck again, meeting Tamami Aso\u2019s corner on the left side of the box and curling her effort past Melegh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia pulled one back a minute later when Prakash\u2019s lateral pass from a tight angle on the right found Daisy Brown, who converted from close range.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
India outplayed Chinese Taipei 3-1 to keep their knockout hopes alive at the AFC U20 Women\u2019s Asian Cup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-11412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal.jpg",2015,1328,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-300x198.jpg",300,198,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-768x506.jpg",640,422,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-1024x675.jpg",640,422,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-1536x1012.jpg",1536,1012,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal.jpg",2015,1328,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/India-Futsal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11414,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11412\/revisions\/11414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}