Second penalty was questionable: Gurpreet
The Hindu
The Indians conceded a late goal off a debatable penalty to on Thursday miss out on their first-ever victory over Iraq.
Indian football team captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was critical of the second penalty awarded to Iraq after his side's heartbreaking 4-5 defeat in shootout in the King's Cup semifinal here.
The Indians conceded a late goal off a debatable penalty to on Thursday miss out on their first-ever victory over Iraq.
The Blue Tigers were leading 2-1 till the 79th minute when the referee awarded a soft penalty to Iraq after their striker Ghadhban was squeezed by two defenders inside the box during a tussle to get on to a high cross.
It did not look like a definite penalty, but Ghadhban himself stepped up to take the kick from the spot and make it 2-2, taking the game to the penalty shootout.
Sandhu told the AIFF, "Obviously, it's a hard result to digest. I think we could've won the game. Unfortunately, the second penalty which was awarded was questionable." However, he expressed his satisfaction with the overall performance of the team despite the absence of veteran striker Sunil Chhetri.
"But again, we did much, much better than what I think people would have thought. And we just need to believe in ourselves. We have to be a bit more patient and positive, which we were.
"We need to be humble and also make sure that we don't give away chances the way we did. Unfortunately, Iraq got their chances to come back and win the game," he added.
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