JAKARTA - The Philippines national team coach, Tom Saintfiet, revealed that he received death threats due to reports circulating. This is related to the expression made about helping Vietnam qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification.
Previously, Saintfiet said that he wanted to beat Indonesia to be able to help Vietnam qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification. The statement was made by Saintfiet after the Philippines lost 2-3 to Vietnam at My Dinh Stadium, Hanoi, last Thursday and went viral.
While in Vietnam, journalists asked, "What do you think about the Vietnam team? I answered the answer from Vietnamese journalists. I didn't say that in Philippine media, I didn't say it in international media," Tom Saintfiet gave an explanation.
"Jurnalis asked, I said, okay, Vietnam has a chance. If we win, and we will try to win, we don't want to win because of Vietnam, we want to win because of the Philippines. If we play in the Philippines, if Indonesia plays in Argentina, they will try to win. If we play in Indonesia, we will try to win. Because I got a lot of reactions from supporters, and I got even some threats, "he said in a statement.
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However, Saintfiet later emphasized that Vietnamese media misinterpreted the statement and cornered it. Because of that, there was also a terrible threat that even made it quite cornered.
People want to kill me, because the media wrote the wrong thing. And that's not good. I've been following Indonesian football for years. I know the players here," Tom Saintfiet added.
Despite the terrible statement revealed by the coach, the Indonesia vs Philippines match will be held at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK), Senayan on Tuesday, June 11, starting at 19.30 WIB.
In this match, the Indonesian national team must win in order to qualify for the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification. Meanwhile, the Philippines has been confirmed to be eliminated because it only packs one point.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
