Odisha FC had a difficult first group stage outing in the AFC Women's Champions League as defending champions Urawa Red Diamonds beat the defending IWL champions 17-0 in a thoroughly one-sided affair.
The numbers couldn't have been more one-sided. Odisha had one shot all game, that came in the 93rd minute. Urawa had 55 shots. 29 of them were on target. It felt like that cliché of the scoreline being anything they wanted it to have been was made for games like this one.
They took the lead in the 5th minute, and by the 18th minute, it was already 6-0. They added two more before half-time to make it 8-0. In the second half, even though it felt like they'd slowed down, they scored one more goal than they did in the first.
They had 10 different goal-scorers, 11 if you include the own goal from Maryam Juke Ibrahim. Yuzuho Shiokosi and Miki Ito scored hat-tricks, the latter ended up with four goals.
It was a match that really showed the sheer difference in the levels between the two teams. While Odisha were never really expected to get anything out of the game, it was just far too easy for Urawa. They didn't do much spectacular either. They played simple passes, and had a plethora of moving players around the Odisha box, and the Indian club couldn't live with that.
Odisha were also missing a few key players for this clash. Midfielder Grace Hauhnar was handed a five-match suspension by the AFC for her red card against Etihad. Cameroonian defender Elaine Bodolo hadn't received her International Transfer Clearance, while striker Pyari Xaxa was in a minor bike accident before the team left for Vietnam for this competition.
Odisha now face games against Vietnamese club Ho Chi Minh City and Chinese Taipei's Taichung Blue Whale. The toughest test is out of the way, though, but how much damage have Urawa done to their confidence before those games against the lesser-fancied sides in this group?
Odisha got to this stage after beating Singapore's Lion City Sailors and Jordan's Etihad Club 4-1 and 2-1 respectively. Urawa, though, were several notches above any test that Odisha have faced so far in their short existence as a club. The Indian club next face Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday evening.