Is Indonesia behind its competitors?
"The Indonesian team's 2026 World Cup qualification is in danger, the opponents in the fourth qualifying round of the Asian region such as Saudi Arabia are preparing vigorously, they have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup (CONCACAF championship - North, Central America and the Caribbean) with extremely good performance. We are behind our opponents," CNN Indonesia expressed on June 27.
Indonesia could face Saudi Arabia again in the fourth qualifying round. In the previous qualifying round, they beat this opponent 2-0 and drew 1-1.
Photo: Reuters
Saudi Arabia will participate in the 2025 Gold Cup as a guest team, competing with strong opponents in the CONCACAF region such as the 2026 World Cup co-hosts, the United States, Mexico and Canada. In addition, there will be teams from Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago...
Although they could not bring their strongest squad to the Gold Cup, because stars at Al Hilal Club such as captain Salem Al-Dawsari are attending the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, the Saudi Arabian team, with the return of coach Herve Renard, is gradually reviving spectacularly, after a period of decline under coach Roberto Mancini (Italy).
After finishing 4th in Group C in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, to enter the fourth qualifying round and also gain the advantage of being the host of 1 of the 2 groups with Qatar, the "Green Falcons", the nickname of the Saudi Arabian team, also had an early preparation process to secure a ticket to the final round when competing in the Gold Cup.
Here, after the group stage, the Saudi Arabian team with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss against the US team, has won 2 tickets to the quarterfinals with this team. The next challenge for Saudi Arabia is to meet strong opponent Mexico at 9:15 am on June 29 (Vietnam time). Meanwhile, the US team will meet Costa Rica at 6 am on June 30.
The Indonesian team will be at a great disadvantage in their goal of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. In the photo is midfielder Thom Haye, one of six unemployed players.
Photo: Reuters
"Saudi Arabia's current preparations have really caused concern for the Indonesian team, as the possibility of meeting this opponent again in the fourth qualifying round is very high. Saudi Arabia is also very different from the two meetings that the Indonesian team faced in the third qualifying round, including a 1-1 draw in Jeddah in September 2024 and a 2-0 home win in Jakarta in November of the same year.
Coach Herve Renard has rebuilt the Saudi Arabian squad to play very stably, even though they were missing many important players at the Gold Cup. If they meet again in the fourth qualifying round, it is clear that coach Kluivert and his team will find it very difficult to repeat their previous achievements, and in the context of having 6 unemployed naturalized players, while Saudi Arabia will have the advantage of being the home team," CNN Indonesia expressed great concern.
In the fourth qualifying round of the Asian region (from October 8 to 14), 6 teams including Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE are divided into 2 groups (drawing ceremony on July 17). The top team of each group will win the remaining 2 official tickets to the 2026 World Cup. The two second-placed teams of the 2 groups will play a play-off match (2 home and away matches), the winning team will enter the Intercontinental play-off round to compete for a wild card.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/indonesia-lo-mat-ve-du-world-cup-2026-a-rap-xe-ut-hoi-sinh-tai-gold-cup-185250627125919629.htm
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