Playing against quality sides helpful: Women U-17 coach

New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) As part of their preparations for the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup next year, the Indian U-17 team will face the Hong Kong U-23 at their home on Friday.

Hong Kong are currently ranked 76th according to the latest FIFA rankings and they are a force to reckon with in women's football. India U-17 head coach Alex Ambrose stressed that playing against teams that are of a higher age category would help assess their performance against quality sides.

"This match will definitely help us identify where and how we can improve. It's always helpful playing against such quality sides," Ambrose said.

"It's always tough playing against older players but it's important to challenge ourselves against such matured sides. It'll help the girls prepare themselves to deal with tougher situations. We should be playing against these type of opponents at times to tune in our preparation," he added.

The girls have been training at the Hong Kong FA Training Centre and the former India international lauded the facilities at their disposal. "The training facilities are excellent and we have no complaints about them," the 36-year-old coach said.

Followed by this game, the India U-17 women will play three more matches against Taipo, Citizen and Hong Kong U-18 women's national team during the exposure trip.

"The girls have been responding well and our training regime has been going according to plan in the last four days since we reached Hong Kong. Now, we're looking forward to tomorrow's match and hopefully, we'll get off to a positive start," Ambrose concluded.