• Tanushree Nag, 15, is a striker known for her ball control and dribbling skills. She dreams of making it to the Bengal team, and even the national team, one day

• Hasi Patra, 15, was banned from the football field for three months for lack of discipline. She is back now with renewed vigour

Rabindra Sarobar: A bunch of girls who have either been deserted by their parents or rescued from the pavement have taken to football for a better life.

The training sessions by Calcutta Social Project, an NGO that runs a shelter and day-care centres for economically deprived children, began two years ago.

Besides instilling in the girls love for the beautiful game, the sessions have also made them more confident, focussed and disciplined.

"I am a lot calmer now and know that even I can achieve something. I want to go on improving till I make it to the Bengal team and hopefully even Indian team one day," said Tanushree, a diehard Neymar fan.

Tansuree is one of the girls whose game coach Thien Lai Law is most excited about. "Tanushree is more skilled than the boys of her age group. We will send her to the Bengal age group trial next year. She has tremendous ball control and dribbling skills and just needs to improve her speed, something we are working on," he said.

Kajol Singh, 13, the team's captain, and Sujata Maity, 15, also dreams of playing for the country. But before that, they hope their game will get them a job.

The girls recently won a tournament for NGOs organised by a group of old boys of St Xavier's College at Khalsa High School.

One of the stars of the tournament was a 13-year-old whose father died when she was young. Her mother married again and it was later revealed that her mother, stepfather and little brother from second marriage were all HIV positive. When they fell ill, she was given a place at the shelter.

Many of the girls live with their mothers after being abandoned by their fathers.

"My fear of failure is gone after playing soccer. Football has made me braver," said Moonmoon Burman, who excels in both studies and sports.

Arjun Dutta of Calcutta Social Project, an NGO started in 1972 by Kalyani Karlekar, said the girls had grown really fond of football, which also was a lesson in discipline for them.

Goalkeeper Hasi was barred from playing after she started giving the caregivers at the NGO's shelter on Motilal Nehru Road a tough time.

The ploy worked: she returned to the field, disciplined and in control.

"Earlier there was a lot of bickering among the girls but now they have understood the value of teamwork because that's the only way football can be played. In the beginning, if one girl did not pass the ball to a player when she should have, that player wouldn't even go for the ball when it came towards her," he said.

Now, the battle lines are only drawn over which team to support. Hasi may have stopped watching World Cup after Argentina's exit, but the rest are looking forward to Brazil's quarterfinal against Belgium on Friday.