Indonesia's big win ahead of fourth qualifying round
The Indonesian team will face two extremely strong opponents in Group B in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. These matches will all take place at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
Indonesia will face Saudi Arabia again in the fourth qualifying round. In the previous qualifying round, they won 2-0 and drew 1-1.
Photo: Reuters
However, in the original match schedule, the team from the archipelago country was at a huge disadvantage, because they had to play 2 consecutive matches at a very high frequency of 3 days/match and also had very tight match times, making it extremely difficult for the players to have enough time to recover.
While the host team Saudi Arabia plays the first and second matches with a 6-day break, the Iraqi team has a 3-day break in the first round, also playing 3 days/match, but the match time is later (both at 10:30 p.m. local time), so the players will have enough time to recover.
Therefore, PSSI President Erick Thohir immediately sent a letter to AFC and suggested that adjustments be made to help Indonesian players have enough time to recover after the first match and prepare for the next match.
"We received notice of the schedule for the fourth qualifying round from the AFC on July 24. In this schedule, our first match against Saudi Arabia is scheduled to take place at 8:15 p.m. on October 8 (local time, about 0:15 a.m. on October 9, Vietnam time). And the second match against Iraq will take place at 6:00 p.m. (local time) on October 11 (about 10:00 p.m. on the same day, Vietnam time).
With such a density of 3 days/match and such different match times, Indonesian players will be at a huge disadvantage in recovery time compared to their opponents.
Therefore, we sent a complaint to the AFC and asked them to make appropriate adjustments. Fortunately, the AFC responded positively, they decided to change the match time immediately, especially the second match against Iraq was postponed to 22:30 local time (about 2:30 on October 12, Vietnam time). This gives us enough time to recover," said PSSI President Erick Thohir.
Accordingly, the latest match schedule of the Indonesian team in the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia has been adjusted, specifically the match against Saudi Arabia will take place at 0:15 on October 9; and against Iraq at 2:30 on October 12 (both Vietnam time).
Ole Romeny (shirt number 10) is the main striker of the Indonesian team in the journey to the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.
Photo: Reuters
In addition, at the request of PSSI President Erick Thohir, AFC will not arrange any referees from the West Asian region to officiate the matches between Indonesia and Iraq and Saudi Arabia. "This is considered a great victory for PSSI and the fans of the archipelago, as the Indonesian team is preparing for very important matches to compete for a ticket to the upcoming 2026 World Cup," CNN Indonesia said.
The fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia will take place from October 8 to 14. The top teams of the two groups will win the remaining two official tickets from the Asian region to the 2026 World Cup. In addition to Group B, there are Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq; Group A includes Qatar, UAE and Oman. The two runners-up will play two play-off matches on November 13 and 18, with the winning team entering the intercontinental play-off round (6 teams) to compete for two play-off tickets in March 2026.
In preparation for the fourth qualifying round, the Indonesian team is expected to add at least three new naturalized players, the first of which is confirmed to be striker Mauro Zijlstra (20 years old, 1.88 m tall). Meanwhile, the identities of the remaining two players are not yet revealed by PSSI, as they are in the process of completing their naturalization documents and carrying out the necessary procedures, according to CNN Indonesia.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/afc-bat-ngo-doi-lich-thi-dau-vong-loai-thu-tu-world-cup-2026-indonesia-thang-lon-185250725092328594.htm
Comment (0)