Indonesia treated unfairly in World Cup qualifiers?

Indonesia team faced many difficulties in the 4th qualifying round of the World Cup.

In June, the AFC announced that Qatar and Saudi Arabia would host matches in the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. The top team in each group will qualify directly, while the bottom two teams in each group will play a play-off to compete for a place in the intercontinental qualifying round.

However, the decision to choose the competition venues in Qatar and Saudi Arabia lacked transparency (including specific selection criteria), causing dissatisfaction among rival teams such as Indonesia, Iraq, Oman and UAE.

These countries have proposed to host matches at their home stadiums or on neutral grounds, while calling for transparency and fairness in the decision-making process, but have not received a satisfactory response from the AFC.

Furthermore, the schedule also puts the visiting teams at a disadvantage. Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia have six days of rest between matches, while their opponents have just 72 hours to recover before the second match. This raises questions about the fairness of the fourth qualifying round.

Indonesia will be at a disadvantage when playing away at Saudi Arabia.

On the morning of October 9, Indonesia will meet host Saudi Arabia in the opening match of Group B of the 4th qualifying round. Three days later, Indonesia will continue to meet Iraq in the early morning of October 12. Meanwhile, host Saudi Arabia will have 6 days off before meeting Iraq in the final match of Group B.

In an interview with The Guardian , Oman head coach Carlos Queiroz asked: “Do Japan or Kuwait not have stadiums to host these matches? Maybe the people who make these decisions have a different perspective on football.”

Indonesia also sent a letter to FIFA and AFC to protest against a Kuwaiti referee taking charge of their match against Saudi Arabia. Indonesian team official Kombes Sumardji requested: “We want a truly neutral referee, maybe from Europe or another region, with no regional interests involved.”

Indonesia also said a friendly match scheduled for September 5 with Kuwait had been cancelled for unknown reasons. The AFC later rejected a request from the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) to replace the Kuwaiti referee for the match between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

The AFC's decision to hold matches in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, coupled with an unequal fixture schedule, has caused controversy and put teams like Oman, Indonesia, Iraq and the UAE at a disadvantage.

While these teams are working hard to overcome the challenges, questions about the fairness and transparency of the AFC's decision-making process remain unanswered.

Source: https://znews.vn/indonesia-bi-doi-xu-bat-cong-o-vong-loai-world-cup-post1591730.html