kuala lumpur: India’s first Merdeka tournament match in 22 years ended on Friday, October 13, with a 2-4 loss to hosts Malaysia in the semi-finals in front of a deafening home crowd at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. It ended in disappointment.
Malaysia will face Tajikistan in the final on October 17th.
In a match marred by several controversial refereeing decisions, including the cancellation of a ‘goal’ scored by India, the Blue Tigers trailed 1-3 at half-time, but bounced back with vigor after the restart. Captain Sunil’s efforts narrowed the gap. Chhetri.
However, their pace and eagerness to get back into the game was dealt a shock in the 56th minute when Thai referee Mongkolchai Pechuli disallowed Lalianzuala Chhangte’s shot from breaking over the line.
Although television replays clearly showed the ball had crossed the goal line by inches, the referee and assistant referee preferred otherwise, leaving the Indians completely stunned. Indian captain Chhetri folded his hands and appealed to the referee, but as there was no VAR, the referee kept pointing his gun.
With the Indians still smart after being denied what looked like a genuine goal, the Malaysians scored their fourth goal in the 61st minute through Lavere Corbin Ong, putting the ball out of reach for the Blue Tigers. The game progressed.
Despite the loss, the two goals scored by India could give Indian fans real reason to cheer. Mahesh Singh Naorem’s goal was beautiful. The combination of Larianzuala Chhangte, Sahar Abdul Samad and Mahesh saw Mahesh score a precise volley, but the Malaysian goalkeeper was unable to respond. Chhangte was in trouble for the second goal as well and his careful passing made Chhetri’s job easier. All he had to do was tap the ball.
However, Chan-tae ends up returning home an unhappy man. He always regretted the goals he scored, but his coaching team never acknowledged them. All in all, it will definitely be a depressing night in the Indian camp. The penalties they conceded and the penalties they apparently denied are likely to be hotly debated over the coming weeks.
But then India paid the price for their lackluster fielding in the first half. Mahesh Singh Naorem’s stunning shot in the 13th minute erased Malaysia’s seven-minute lead, but it looked like it wasn’t enough at the end of the first half. That’s because Malaysia’s front line repeatedly broke through India’s rather porous defense, scoring three goals in the first session and sending the visiting team out in a frenzy. Looking for options. A more coherent development in his first 45 minutes would have changed the script, but that wasn’t the case.
Dion Cools gave Malaysia the lead from a corner kick, but Arif Amin added another point with a penalty in the 20th minute. Faisal Halim extended their lead with a goal from a counter-attack with three minutes remaining.
Still, India tried their best to recover in the second half. In a sense, it was their bad luck that they were unable to save the day. If one goal disallowed derailed their plans, the post stood between them and India on at least two occasions. Mahesh Singh and Chhante tore apart the rival defense with frequent raids but failed to get the desired results. They were beaten, but they will never return from the humiliated Kuala Lumpur. With domestic commitments and little training time, coach Igor Stimac’s players did a commendable job, but it wasn’t enough to come off the pitch as winners.
India XI: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK), Nikhil Poojary (Nandakumar Sekhar 81 minutes), Sandesh Jhingan, Mehtab Singh, Akash Mishra (Roshan Singh Naorem 62 minutes). Mahesh Singh Naorem, Rohit Kumar (Udanta Singh 81 minutes), Sahar Abdul Samad, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Lalianzuala Chhangte, Sunil Chhetri (Liston Colaco 63 minutes).
