Shin Tae-yong Understands Why Indonesian National Team Players Are Angry With Referees

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team could actually embarrass Bahrain in the third match of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round at the Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa, Thursday, October 10, 2024.

If there was no controversial decision from referee Ahmed Al Kaf, the Garuda Squad would clearly win three points with a 2-1 victory.

However, the referee from Oman did not have to tolerate time. From injury time it was only six minutes, so it lasted up to nine minutes to wait for Bahrain's equalizer goal in the 90+9 minute.

Ahmed Al Kaf just blew the long whistle after the Indonesian national team made a mid-kick.

Not surprisingly, Ahmed Al Kaf was the target of the anger of Indonesian national team players, as well as Shin Tae-yong. Specifically for the coach, Ahmed Al Kaf gave a red card at the end of the match after Bahrain's second goal.

Shin Tae-yong looked annoyed after the match. He revealed his story about referee Ahmed Al Kaf who was considered unfair.

He saw that during the match many decisions from the referee from Oman were detrimental to the Indonesian national team.

"About additional time, it should be six minutes, but it becomes more than nine minutes. Then, referee decisions that I think are biased."

"I think everyone can understand why our players are annoyed with these decisions," said Shin Tae-yong.

Because of this controversial leadership, Shin Tae-yong satirized the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The South Korean coach said the AFC needed to improve on the quality of the referee so that Asian football could develop.

Apart from that, the Indonesian national team did not want to lament the results. They immediately looked at the next match against China.

The Garuda squad is scheduled to travel to China for the fourth match of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round on October 15, 2024.