" The naturalized players of the Indonesian national team are only of second-tier quality in Asia. The Chinese national team's ability is not inferior to theirs, and may even be equal to or better ," Chinese media quoted midfielder Xie Wenneng as saying.
Matchday 4 of Group C in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers for the Asian region saw a clash between China and Indonesia. Coach Shin Tae-yong's team suffered an early setback in the first half. In the 21st minute, from a seemingly harmless free kick in the middle of the field, a Chinese defender made an effort to save the ball, and Behram Abduweli rushed in to finish from close range, opening the scoring for the East Asian representatives.
Thom Haye is a shining star of the Indonesian national team.
In the 44th minute, Gao Zhunyi won the ball and skillfully passed the ball in a trivela style, Zhang Yuning escaped and finished with an excellent one-touch goal to double the gap for the Chinese team. Efforts in the second half helped Indonesia get the only equalizer thanks to Thom Haye.
Not all of Indonesia's naturalized players are top-class, but a few names could certainly come close to the top level in Asia. These include Thom Haye (who played for Heerenveen for many years), Jay Idzes (Venezia, Serie A, Italy), and Mees Hilgers (Twente, Netherlands). The rest were trained and played for many years in the youth teams of the Netherlands.
However, the Indonesian team has yet to bring joy to its fans. They drew 3 and lost 1 in their first 4 matches. The naturalized players performed well individually, but teamwork remains a major issue.
Wei Shihao, a star player for the Chinese national team, commented: " I don't think the Indonesian team is actually stronger than the Chinese team. They have some naturalized players who play abroad, but their cohesion is definitely not as good as ours. Modern football emphasizes teamwork ."
However, the Indonesian team is clearly much stronger with the addition of naturalized players. Currently, coach Shin Tae-yong has 13-15 quality naturalized players at his disposal and can field 9 in the starting lineup.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/doi-tuyen-indonesia-bi-che-nhap-tich-cau-thu-chat-luong-kem-ar902405.html
![[Video] The craft of making Dong Ho folk paintings has been inscribed by UNESCO on the List of Crafts in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/402x226/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/12/10/1765350246533_tranh-dong-ho-734-jpg.webp)
Comment (0)