Schedule Of The Indonesian National Team Versus Saudi Arabia And Australia

The Indonesian national team played the second round of the Asian zone 2026 World Cup Qualifiers (DOK. PSSI)

JAKARTA The Indonesian national team will play two third round matches of the Asian zone 2026 World Cup Qualification early next month. The following is the match schedule.

The series of matches for the third round starts on September 5 and will last until June next year. A total of 18 teams and divided equally into three groups.

Each team will play a total of ten matches. As a result, the two best teams from each group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup later, while the third and fourth positions must continue the qualification to the fourth round.

Indonesia is included in Group C with strong countries such as Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Japan. The other two opponents that Indonesia will face are Bahrain and China.

Saudi Arabia and Australia will also be the first opponents the Garuda squad must meet. Clashes against the two countries occurred respectively on September 6 and 10.

Indonesia will first play an away match to Saudi Arabia's headquarters at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. After that, Shin Tae Yong's team returned to Indonesia and prepared to host Australia.

The situation in the Indonesian national team was quite critical when playing the first match. The reason is, a number of the main players in the defense line are confirmed to be absent for different reasons.

The three names that were confirmed to be absent were Jordi Amat, Justin Hubner, and Elkan Baggott. Justin was sanctioned with card accumulation, Jordi Amat was hampered by injury, and Baggott was not called by coach Shin Tae Yong.

Thus, STY will only rely on Jay Idzes and Rizky Ridho. However, the South Korean tactician has the option to field Sandy Walsh and Nathan Tjoe-A-On as central defenders.

This choice was made by the 53-year-old coach. He once plotd Sandy as a center-back when he appeared in the 2023 Asian Cup, while Nathan was tried while playing in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup.

Schedule of the Indonesian national team:

Friday, September 6, 2024 Saudi Arabia vs Indonesia King Abdullah Sports City Stadium

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 Indonesia vs Australia Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium.