Scenario for Indonesia to advance in U17 World Cup

The Indonesia U17 team opened their 2025 U17 World Cup campaign with a 1-3 loss to Zambia.

On November 4, the young team from the archipelago even took the lead against Zambia with the opening goal in the 12th minute. However, within just 3 minutes (from 35 to 37), Zambia scored two goals in a row, and then Mwale took advantage of a mistake by the Indonesian defense to seal the score 3-1.

Despite the unexpected result, "Garuda" still has a chance to enter the knockout round, even though they have to face two big opponents, Brazil and Honduras.

The 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar will be the first time FIFA has hosted a 48-team finals tournament . In addition to the top two teams in each group (12 groups), FIFA's new rules will also allow the eight best third-placed teams to advance from the group stage to the round of 32.

Calculations from Opta show that Indonesia only need to beat Honduras or Brazil to secure their place in the next round. In case they lose to Brazil, they need to get a point against Honduras, a more suitable opponent, to keep their hopes alive. Goal difference is also a factor that U17 Indonesia needs to consider to compete with Honduras for third place.

In the opening match, Honduras lost to Brazil 0-7. That shows that everything is still open for U17 Indonesia. Currently, U17 Indonesia is temporarily ranked third in Group H, with the same 0 points as Honduras but with a better sub-index. Brazil leads with 3 points while Zambia is ranked second.

This is the second time in history that Indonesia football has participated in the world competition at the U17 level, after the first time in 2023 when they participated as hosts. Qualifying through the qualifying round shows a significant step forward for the archipelago’s youth football, as they are one of eight representatives from Asia to participate in the finals.

Source: https://znews.vn/kich-ban-de-indonesia-di-tiep-o-u17-world-cup-post1599990.html