Mees Hilgers' Impressive Debut, Makes Bahrain Unable To Score Goals From Open Play

JAKARTA - Mees Hilgers finally made his debut with the Indonesian national team when he visited Bahrain on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

The first appearance of FC Twente defender almost paid off Indonesia's first three points in Group C of the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.

Unfortunately, the victory of the Garuda Squad in sight disappeared due to the controversial leadership of referee Ahmed Al Kaf. As a result, Indonesia only brought one point home from 2-2 results.

Apart from that, Hilgers' appearance in his debut was very solid. He appeared full for 90 minutes and became one of the strongest actors in the Indonesian national team defense.

The Hilgers installed accompanied Jay Idzes and Jordi Amat as starters to protect Maarten Paes a lot.

His collaboration on the right side of the defense with Sandy Walsh frustrated Bahrain.

In fact, the 23-year-old made an impressive note. He has the most duel advantages than other players, which is eight times.

Jay Idzes and Calvin Verdonk only packed two and won three duels with opposing players.

Not to mention the record of success of tackles (twice) and the success of air duels (four times) which is better than any Indonesian national team player according to AFC data.

Hilgers only lost about sweeping or clearance. He only packed two sweeps compared to 13 belonging to Jay Idzes.

These slick statistics are one of the factors that made Bahrain unable to score goals from the open play scheme because it was difficult to penetrate the defense walls of the Indonesian national team.

As is known, two Bahrain goals were made through a dead ball situation, one free kick and another from a corner kick.

Put aside the defensive aspect first. Hilgers' debut also contributed to Indonesia's first goal scored by Ragnar Oratmangoen in the first half injury time.

Hilgers started the attack by the Indonesian national team which led to the goal. When the ball was at Ivar Jenner's feet, the defender suddenly was in the Bahrain penalty box.

The 23-year-old defender became the first player to welcome Ivar Jenner's cross and led to chaos in front of Bahrain's goal.

Ragnar without control immediately grabbed a wild ball to make the score 1-1.

The very impressive performance re-opened the Hilgers chance to start in the match against China.

The Indonesian national team is scheduled to visit China's headquarters, Qingdao, on October 15, 2024, to play the fourth match of Group C of the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification.

Meanwhile, Mees Hilgers is a new player for the Indonesian national team. The naturalization will only be completed at the end of September 2024.

He immediately received a call from Shin Tae-yong and was dusty as a starter.

FC Twenty also congratulated Hilgers on the club's official Instagram debut.

"Mees, congratulations on your debut," wrote Twenty accompanying the upload of Hilgers' photo.