Indian head coach Igor Stimac admitted they need to improve their decision-making after their 4-2 loss to Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup semi-final at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. The Blue Tigers were without the services of injured defender Anwar Ali and the other players failed to lift their game.

Dion Cools scored the opening game early in the seventh minute for the hosts however Mahesh Singh was quick to equalize in the 13th minute. But, the home team took a 3-1 lead before half-time as Arif Aiman Hanapi and Faisal Halim found the back of the net.

However, Sunil Chhetri got one back for the visitors soon into the second half but Corbin-Ong scored after 10 minutes.

“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, or 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,” Stimac said following their exit from the Merdeka Cup.

In fact, India didn’t have the rub of the green on their side as Lallianzuala Chhangte’s shot was disallowed despite the ball passing the line. Indian captain Sunil Chhetri feels it could have a different story if that goal was allowed.

“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,” Chhetri said.

The Indian skipper added they have themselves to blame as they should have defended well but conceded the fourth goal.

“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,” Chhetri added.