The Indonesian team's dressing room collapsed on the day the 731-day journey to hunt for a World Cup ticket ended.

Indonesia's dream of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup was officially shattered after a 0-1 defeat to Iraq at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Coach Patrick Kluivert was seen twice punching his chair and covering his face in frustration. Afterwards, the Dutch coach was seen wiping his face with a towel, revealing a pained face with tears in his eyes.

The players could not hide their emotions either. Midfielder Thom Haye burst into tears on the pitch before burying his face in his shirt after receiving sympathy from Jay Idzes, while striker Ole Romeny lay on the grass with empty eyes, forcing Iraq midfielder and the only scorer of the match, Zidane Iqbal to come closer and try to comfort his opponent. In the distance, winger Ramadhan Sananta sat in disbelief, as if he could not believe that Indonesia had lost all hope.

Once in the dressing room, the atmosphere of mourning continued to be created. As coach Patrick Kluivert revealed, he did not know what to say because it was too heartbreaking to witness the suffering of the players. "They are very young but they showed great spirit and quality, creating good performances against opponents many levels higher in the FIFA rankings," said the Dutch strategist. "Unfortunately, we were unlucky not to be able to score. We tried very hard to achieve the goal, but then failed."

Indonesia's journey to the 2026 World Cup began on October 12, 2023, with a 6-0 win over Brunei in the first qualifying round. In the second qualifying round, in a group with the participation of the Vietnamese national team, the archipelago team excellently won second place in Group F with 10 points and advanced to the third qualifying round.

Against top Asian opponents including Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia, Tim Garuda produced some commendable performances, defeating Saudi Arabia and China. A fourth place finish in Group C saw Indonesia qualify for the fourth round of qualifying, but two defeats to Saudi Arabia and Iraq ended the dream, after 731 days of living in hope of a ticket to the biggest football festival on the planet.