We did not have much options left- Igor Stimac after loss against Oman

The Blue Tigers' boss also revealed that the failure to take their chances hurt his side on Thursday evening.

The Indian football team suffered another heartbreak, as Oman came from  behind to end the match 1-2 and secure all three points from their first FIFA World Cup Qualifying encounter at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium on Thursday evening.

It was from Sunil Chhetri's goal that the Blue Tigers took the lead and kept it intact until the 82nd minute, when Al-Mandhar Rabia scored the equalizer and followed it up with a stunning winner to complete the comeback for the away side.

India head coach Igor Stimac was visibly heartbroken at the post-match press conference after his team's loss.

"We deserved more from this game. I think we could have killed the game in the first half and scored a lot more," Stimac began. "I feel that is where we lack, experience of not scoring enough. You can see most goals are scored by Sunil (Chhetri). This is where Udanta (Singh) and Ashique (Kuruniyan) should take their chances," he added.

"But I can't blame anyone. Congratulations to the Omani team and to my lads, they have made me and the Indian people proud of the way they played."

Watch: Post-match press conference of India 1-2 Oman

Speaking about the following game against Qatar and considering the heartbreak from this match, Stimac feels that the disappointment can motivate his players even more, to fight against the Asian champions.

"I think the job is done and the players are motivated to go there and fight for everything after this result. This game is over and we don't want to speak about it anymore. Qatar is a different team in Asia and we will get to learn a lot from them," the Croatian tactician quipped.

"We will play a good brand of football I believe with the players we have. Obviously we will need to change four-five players in the team. No reason to fear them. We should go their trying to play good football and score goals," he went on to say. 

The Blue Tigers dominated the proceeding until the latter part of the second half, where Stimac feels the team lacked experience to control the tempo. "Our only mistake was running with the ball and losing possession. We needed to hold the ball and make the opponent run and suffer.

But, that's where experience comes in. If you run and lose the ball and are exhausted then it becomes difficult in the later stages. I feel we were fitter than them, but they are more experienced."

The 51-year-old was also quizzed about his decision to bring on Sahal Abdul Samad so late in the game to which he said, "We conceded the goal in the 91st minute and there was some time left to impose our players and try to score. We wanted Sahal to put the ball wide to the wingers, we did not have much options left."

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Stimac, however, blamed the lapses in concentration of the India defenders for both the goals they conceded.

"They were supposed to be in front of opposition players and not behind them. If you are behind a player you are allowing him space to take a shot. I told them to stay as close as possible,"  he told the press, before adding, "I expected their #10 to start the game and when he came on I told my player to not to allow him space. They did not work hard for the first goal, it was just capitalizing on our error in defence," he concluded.