Indonesia team gets hot warning before the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup:

Indonesia's chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup are in serious doubt after Iraq coach Graham Arnold claimed to have grasped all of their strengths and weaknesses.

Indonesian team soon under pressure?

The fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, competing for the remaining two official tickets to the final round, will take place from October 8 to 14. With 6 teams, divided into 2 groups, the Indonesian team is in Group B with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Meanwhile, in Group A are Qatar, UAE and Oman.

Is coach Kluivert afraid when his opponent claims to have grasped all the strengths and weaknesses of the Indonesian team?

Photo: Reuters

The competition for the two tickets reserved for the top two teams of these groups has become fierce, with each match like a final. The Indonesian team is the only representative of the Southeast Asian region to make it to this round, they will have to face extremely strong opponents in West Asia.

In the two decisive matches in Group B, the Indonesian team will start with a match against the host team Saudi Arabia at 0:15 on October 9; and against the Iraqi team at 2:30 on October 12 (both Vietnam time). This match schedule was officially rescheduled by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on July 25, after the President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), Mr. Erick Thohir, sent a letter of complaint because the team had too little recovery time between the two matches.

However, the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) has objected, saying that the AFC's change of match time will affect the national team. However, so far, the AFC seems to have finalized the schedule for the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers as announced on July 25, after adjusting the complaint from PSSI President Erick Thohir.

According to coach Graham Arnold (Australian) of the Iraqi team, despite the change in match time, he still determined that the home team will have all the ability to win the two matches against Indonesia and Saudi Arabia (at 2:30 a.m. on October 15) to get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. He confidently told the Kooora (Iraq) newspaper: "I have a lot of experience playing against the Saudi Arabian and Indonesian teams. I understand very clearly their strengths and weaknesses."

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

Coach Graham Arnold is an experienced strategist of Australian football and Asian football. In the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, when he was still leading the Australian team, he faced the Indonesian team (draw 0-0) in September 2024, before giving way to current coach Tony Popovic.

Recently, coach Graham Arnold unexpectedly accepted to lead the Iraqi team in May, replacing Spanish coach Jesus Casas. Coach Graham Arnold has only led the Iraqi team in 2 matches, with 1 win and 1 loss. He will soon join the team in the King's Cup in Thailand in September.

"I believe this is the right time for the Iraqi team to qualify for the World Cup. We will fight to realize the dream of millions of Iraqis, which is to qualify for the World Cup after 40 years of absence. We will focus all our efforts to reach our peak performance in October. I have great confidence in the players.

"They will be at their best physically and mentally in October, and then we will be ready to win. Having said that, I am not worried about who we will face or where and when we will play. Our focus is on winning both games against Indonesia and Saudi Arabia," coach Graham Arnold stressed.

According to CNN Indonesia, Coach Graham Arnold's statements will certainly bring many challenges to Coach Kluivert and the Indonesian team in their journey to win a ticket to the 2026 World Cup, promising to be very hot in the near future.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-indonesia-bi-canh-bao-nong-truoc-vong-loai-thu-tu-world-cup-2026-185250810092047167.htm