‘Robbed’ - Shaji Prabhakaran speaks after India’s Merdeka Cup defeat to Malaysia

India were denied a genuine goal in the second half.

India suffered a pretty disheartening loss against Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup on Friday, as the Harimau Malaya scored four past the Blues in an action-packed game of football.

India showed a lot of vigour to fight until the very end, but poor refereeing decisions and some shortage of luck in front of the goal restricted the Blues from securing a place in the final.

https://twitter.com/KhelNow/status/1712836131614605509

India were poor defensively right from the start of the game, which resulted in them going down inside the opening few minutes. The Blues however, bounced back almost immediately, courtesy of Naorem Mahesh’s splendid volley, which levelled the score. 

As the game commenced, India’s defensive woes continued to haunt them, as they conceded two more goals in the first half, and looked all over the place in the back. 

The start of the second half brought renewed energy, as India scored one back, and also scored a quite evident equalizer, but the referee’s incompetence to make a correct judgement, denied India a certain goal.

India fought hard thereafter, but another goal by Malaysia, and some valiant defending by the home team handed India a scrutinising defeat.

Shaji Prabhakaran’s words

AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran made his thoughts known after the game, through his social media handle. According to him, India should be ‘proud’ of their performance, and deserve the fans' best of appreciation.

His tweet stated the follows:

“Robbed”

“We are not beaten but it is 4-2.”

https://twitter.com/Shaji4Football/status/1712846190767911303

“We should be proud of our performance. We created not one but many chances and put Malaysia under pressure. With a bit of luck we could have converted those chances. No doubt, there were some defensive lapses but net sum we were better.”

“We are there, let’s continue to put our best. Our players deserve our best of appreciation.”