A hoard controversy surrounded India’s 4-2 loss to Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup on Friday. A string of terrible officiating decisions costed the Blue Tigers the game. A disallowed goal, a soft penalty, and a brushed-off handball inside the hosts’ penalty area was difficult for the Blue Tigers to accept. Head coach Igor Stimac and captain Sunil Chhetri were quite vocal about falling victim to the judgements made during India vs Malaysia.
“In some situations, we were not putting the ball into the box in time. We were mostly waiting too long and the crosses were being blocked. Else we took too long to take our shots. In football, once you get close to the box, you need to keep thinking about how you will score the goal. We need to improve our decision-making,” said Igor Stimac.
Igor Stimac, was plainly dissatisfied with the outcome. He did, however, concentrate on areas where the Blue Tigers needed to improve. Sunil Chhetri, the captain, echoed Stimac’s comments. Chhetri scored India’s second goal of the night, his 93rd international goal.
“It’s not right to speculate what could have been if some decisions had gone our way. Having said that, if the goal was allowed at 3-3, things could have been different for us,” he said.
“We have ourselves to blame. We conceded the fourth goal when we should have defended well. That was at least in our control. We had the momentum, we were controlling the game in the second half, but the fourth goal killed it,” said Chhetri on India vs Malaysia
The Indian Football Team must prepare for harder confrontations ahead. To put it mildly, the Blue Tigers will face two World Cup qualifiers in Kuwait and Qatar.
These matches also aim to prepare them for perhaps more difficult difficulties at the AFC Asian Cup in 2024. In Group B, they will face Australia (January 13), Uzbekistan (January 18), and Syria (January 23).
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