Indonesia confident to shock Australia: What is the reason?

According to CNN Indonesia, the Indonesian team is very confident that they will defeat the Australian team in Sydney at 4:10 p.m. on March 20, to light up the opportunity to get a ticket to the 2026 World Cup finals.

In the March competition (2 matches) in the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, at least 4 teams will leave the race early if they continue to receive defeats. But for the Indonesian team, no matter how many losses they have, they cannot leave the race. This is the mental factor that is helping coach Kluivert's team show comfort and confidence, according to CNN Indonesia .

The Indonesian team has great expectations in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Photo: Reuters

Accordingly, in group A, Kyrgyzstan (3 points) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (2 points) are at the bottom of the table. If they lose the next two matches, they will soon be eliminated. Similarly, in group B, Kuwait (4 points) and Palestine (3 points) are also at the bottom of the table and are in danger of being eliminated if they continue to receive defeats.

But in Group C, except for Japan (16 points) who have already secured a place in the 2026 World Cup, the remaining teams, regardless of the result, still have a chance to compete for a ticket to the next round. In this group, the gap between the second-placed team Australia and the four teams right behind is only 1 point (7 vs. 6), including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China.

In the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, the top 2 teams in the 3 groups will win 6 official spots to the 2026 World Cup finals. The 3rd and 4th ranked teams will enter the 4th qualifying round to compete for the remaining 2 official spots, and the Intercontinental play-off spot. The 2 bottom ranked teams will be eliminated.

The Indonesian team has a chance to decide their hopes of winning one of the two main spots in Group C, when they are about to face the Australian team directly in Sydney.

The possibility of the Indonesian team creating a big surprise is very likely to happen. The latest information recently shows that the Socceroos (nickname of the Australian team) are in crisis with up to 8 injuries from important players, CNN Indonesia reported on March 18.

"Coach Tony Popovic is also under great pressure, having been heavily criticized by Australian fans for calling up a team with many players with very little prospect. The Australian team has also been criticized for having 10 players over 30 years old, making the average age of the 26 names called up this time 28.2 years old. This is a clear contrast when compared to the Indonesian team, whose average age is only 25 years old," CNN Indonesia reported.

Will coach Kluivert create a breakthrough for the Indonesian team?

The Indonesian team sent a total of 29 players to Australia this time, but only 4 players were over 30 years old. While there were also 12 players under 23 years old. The other 5 players were called up to the team for the first time, including 4 newly naturalized players: Emil Audero, Dean James, Joey Pelupessy, Ole Romeny, and striker Septian Bagaskara.

Coach Kluivert will finalize the list of 23 players for the Indonesian national team before the match with the Australian team, prioritizing youth and high-quality naturalized players, in order to take advantage of speed and physical strength to create a surprise match against the home team.

In the first leg, the Indonesian team under coach Shin Tae-yong drew 0-0 with the Australian team at home in September 2024. In the most recent match, also under the command of this Korean coach, the Indonesian team caused a shock when they beat the Saudi Arabia team 2-0 right in Jakarta thanks to a double from player Marselino Ferdinan.

In the most recent match, the Indonesian team caused a shock when they beat the Saudi Arabian team 2-0 right in Jakarta.

Photo: Reuters

The Australian team is said to have played very inconsistently. They started the third qualifying round with a 0-1 loss to Bahrain, drew 4 matches and only beat China 3-1.

In the last 3 matches, the Socceroos have not tasted victory when they drew with Japan (1-1), Saudi Arabia (0-0) and Bahrain (2-2). Veteran coach Graham Arnold had to resign, and coach Tony Popovic took over from the 3rd match until now.

The instability of the Australian team and the ongoing injury storm will be a great opportunity for the Indonesian team to make history.

However, the Indonesian press also expressed concern that coach Kluivert has only appeared for the past 2 months and he only has about 4 days to practice with the players, so will he be able to create immediate effectiveness?

"Kluivert is certainly expected to make a big change in the Indonesian team. But he has too little time. This will be a big gamble for PSSI (Indonesian Football Federation). Moreover, this coach will also have a headache when narrowing down the official list of 23 players, from the list of 29 players he currently has," CNN Indonesia commented.