Big Win From Indonesia, Mitoma: We Can Lose With The Same Score
JAKARTA - The Japanese national team won a big 4-0 victory against Indonesia in the fifth round of the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asia Group C zone at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK), Jakarta, Friday, November 15.
Interestingly, one of the Japanese national team's playersko Mitoma was humble in responding to the victory.
Mitoma felt that the results of the match did not really reflect the difference in the quality of the two countries when his team, ranked 15th in the world, met Indonesia, which is ranked far below, ranked 130 in the world.
With the many opportunities that Indonesia has, the Brighton & Hove Albion star feels that Shin Tae-yong's troops can also sink his team with the same score if their final finish ends better.
"Today, we could end up with a score of 4-0, so I think we should play more humble," Mitoma said, quoted by Japanese media Hochi News, and quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, November 16.
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It was Japan's fourth win in the third round while keeping their unbeaten record during the qualifying round from the second round.
This victory made Japan even more untouched at the top of Group C with 13 points, seven points ahead of Australia in second place with five games remaining.
Japan's chances of playing in the World Cup for the eighth time are getting closer, but the 27-year-old winger said "We still have some drawbacks. I think we need to fix that."
On the same occasion, Mitoma also assessed that Indonesia's game had developed, making it difficult for the Blue Samurai in the early stages of the match.
Mitoma assessed that his team was overwhelmed with long passes that attacked the space behind his team's last defender. This strategy resulted in one dangerous opportunity that Ragnar Oratmangoen got.
A long pass from Thom Haye was successfully reached by Ragnar who then faced one on one with Zion Suzuki goalkeeper. At this moment, Suzuki was better than Ragnar for managed to block the FCV Dender striker's left foot kick.
"When (Japan) pressed in the first half, they were able to kick the long balls well and we conceded several times in the room (in the back)," concluded Mitoma.