Maarten Paes Remains On Earth After Rescue Of Penalty Against Saudi Arabia

Maarten Paes made a penalty save against Saudi Arabia (Instagram/@maartenpaes).

JAKARTA - Maarten Paes finally made his debut in the Indonesian national team when he visited Saudi Arabia's headquarters in the inaugural match of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper's fame at the King Abdullah Stadium on September 5, 2024, turned sweet. Paes was not only able to answer trust, but also played an important role in achieving one point from the Garuda Squad.

Maarten Paes avoided the Indonesian national team from losing. He saved the penalty in the 79th minute. The execution of the captain of Salem Al Dawsari managed to break down.

In addition, Paes thwarted the golden opportunity of Al Brikan Feras in injury time. At that time, Feras lived alone, but Paes managed to win the one-on-one fight.

The two important actions made the Indonesian national team steal one point after the match ended 1-1.

Even though he has a big service in obtaining Garuda Squad points, Maarten Paes does not want to be happy. He continued to ground by saying that the positive results came from the hard work of the team, from players to coaches.

"(The victory) came from our preparations which went very well before. We were very patient and finally we got one point. We made it safe," said Paes.

In addition, goalkeeper FC Dallas (Major League Soccer) is not big in head in front of Salem who lost in a high-five shootout.

"Salem (Al Dawsari) remains a very good player," Paes briefly praised the Saudi Arabian captain.

Maarten Paes was initially in doubt able to appear against Saudi Arabia because news of his late name was reported.

This situation arose because Paes had problems with the transfer of federations from KNVB (Netherlands) to PSSI (Indonesia).

FIFA rejected the federation's transfer because Paes was suspected of having defended the Dutch when he was more than 21 years old.

PSSI and Paes finally filed an appeal to the Sports Arbitration Court (CAS). In the end, the appeal was accepted on August 18, 2024 and Maarten Paes was able to defend the Indonesian national team.

However, preliminary news said Paes could not play against Saudi Arabia because player registration closed on August 4, 2024.

However, at the last minute, at the Match Coordination Meeting (MCM) in Jeddah, Wednesday, September 4, 2024, the goalkeeper was allowed to play.