India were beaten 4-2 by Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup football tournament at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Friday under controversial circumstances.

A disallowed goal (Lallianzuala Chhangte’s attempt), a soft penalty, and a handball inside the hosts’ penalty area that was brushed off were some of the decisions that went against Igor Stimac’s men.

As expected, the Indian dressing room was dejected after the match, but that sense of desolation soon turned into one of introspection.

India head coach Stimac was clearly not happy with the way things panned out, but he did focus on things that India needed to improve.

“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,” the Croat was quoted as saying by the-aiff.com.

Stimac’s sentiments were echoed by captain Sunil Chhetri, who scored India’s second goal on Friday, the 93rd international goal of his career.

“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,” he said.

“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,” said Chhetri.