India vs Iraq: The King’s Cup 2023 semifinal match between Indian Football Team and Iraq ended in a sad loss for India. On September 7, Thursday, Iraq defeated the Blue Tigers in a penalty shootout after twice coming from behind. Following the loss, head coach Igor Stimac lashed out at the officials accusing them of ‘ robbing ‘ India.
“My players gave everything but someone else decided not to let them do it. So, I cannot blame anyone but the referee who participated in robbing India. So, thanks to him, we cannot celebrate this great day. But we can be proud of our players. We can have great hopes for the future, but we need more time together.” stated Stimac to Revsportz.
India 2 (4)-(5) 2 Iraq: Lions edge past Blue Tigers in penalties to…
India capitalised on their excellent start, as Naorem Mahesh Singh gave his team the lead after a clever move. Their joy, though, was short-lived since Sandesh Jhingan received a penalty for a handball. Ali Al-Hamadi then successfully converted a penalty to even the score at 1-1.
Early in the second half, India once more took the lead thanks to a costly error by custodian Jalal Hassan. The contentious part of the game, though, was still to come. The spot for Jhingan’s alleged push in the penalty box was pointed out by the referee. Iraq were given a second penalty. After Aymen Hussain successfully converted the penalty to make the score 2-2, Iraq went on to win the subsequent penalty shootout.
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Replays nevertheless showed that Jhingan was facing the play, raising doubts over the penalty’s imposition. Without success, the Indian players and coaches objected to the contentious call.
To many people’s surprise, head coach Igor Stimac chose not to take part in the post-game press conference. The Croatian coach’s absence suggested that he was perplexed by the referee’s judgement. He did, however, openly express his frustrations to the news organisation RevSportz.
“I didn’t even want to go to the press conference because in the state I’m at the moment after being robbed in such a way, I didn’t want to go there and say the truth. Saying the truth, it’s a very hard thing to do here,” Stimac added.
“FIFA is promoting fair play and humbleness, and the officials are the first one who needs to behave in such a way. The worst thing for a referee to do is to give something that never happened and to give something he couldn’t see.”
“On the big screens on the pitch, there were replays of the incident. We were telling him to look at the screen, which is 20 meters big and he didn’t want to consider it. “ Stimac concluded.
It would be interesting to see how people react to Stimac’s words, especially in wake of the AIFF’s recent show-cause notice for his hostile remarks. But there is no denying that the Blue Tigers have come a long way under Stimac’s leadership. This performance is a resounding endorsement of the team’s development under the Croatian coach. On September 10, the Blue Tigers will return to competition in the third-place match.
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