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The bunch of spunky Indian girls, who made history by finding a place in the top eight of Under-17 AFC Asian Cup on Friday, are now one win away from a berth in the age group Women’s World Cup Morocco 2026. The job is a demanding one as they face hosts China in the quarter final on Monday, but Italian head coach Pamela Conti is not willing to let the golden chance slip.

“It is an incredible achievement,” Conti told the AIFF media after the Young Tigresses ran roughshod in a 4-0 win over Lebanon. “Nobody believed it was possible, but from the very first moment, I believed that if we trained differently, we could achieve what we have done. I am very happy. There are hardly enough words to describe it. I am only grateful to these players, who from day one have always followed everything we asked of them.”

It was a commanding performance against Lebanon which saw Pritika Barman scoring twice while Alva Devi Senjam and Joya added the other goals in a dominant display. A decorated former Italian international, Conti – who took charge of the girls in January – said: “We played an incredible match. Honestly, 4-0 is even a narrow result because we could have scored more goals. What I really liked was the team’s desire to press high, to keep looking for goals, and the very important tactical organisation we showed.

“But the most important thing was qualifying for the knockout stage, and I am extremely happy about that.”

India made the cut for the tournament after a 21-year absence from the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup and were drawn alongside Australia, Japan and Lebanon in a difficult Group B. While defeats against the former two left their qualification hopes hanging in the balance, the Young Tigresses responded emphatically in the decisive final group game.

“From the first day I arrived, I told the players that we had to work, work, and work,” Conti said. “I do not know any other path to success apart from hard work. Nobody complained, nobody got tired of it. We trained for almost three and a half months, twice a day, to achieve this.”

China, India’s next opponents, finished Group A as toppers with 15 goals against Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand and conceding none. “China are a very strong team,” Conti said. “They have many technically gifted players, they are good tactically, and they have the advantage of playing at home with a lot of crowd support.”

“I already said before the tournament that we would play against every team with dignity, and that is exactly what this team is doing. Playing with dignity gives you something extra, not only in football, but also in life.

“We will go there to play our game, to make things difficult for them, and hopefully we can win and achieve the World Cup qualification that we all want so much,” she added.