STY Hopes Indonesia Can Qualify For The 2026 World Cup

Indonesian national team coach Shin Tae Yong (INSTAGRAM ARSIP)

JAKARTA Shin Tae Yong's (ASY) hope regarding Indonesia's opportunity to secure tickets to the 2026 World Cup will still exist after being defeated by Japan.

Indonesia returned without carrying anything after being beaten by a Japanese guest team with a score of 0-4 at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK) on Friday, November 15 evening WIB.

The defeat made Indonesia's position to escape this phase difficult. However, STY is optimistic that Indonesia's opportunity will not be completely extinguished.

"Indeed, from the start I targeted to be ranked third or fourth for the playoffs. So, there is still hope," said the South Korean coach in a press conference after the match.

This defeat makes Indonesia now sit in the final position of the Group C standings from the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian zone.

Indonesia must be one of the top two teams in the final standings of the group if you want to qualify for the World Cup from this round. However, this place is rather difficult to catch in the next five matches.

If you don't get a ticket from this phase, Indonesia will need to finish in third or fourth place to enter the next qualifying stage and win one of the two tickets there.

"For that, my players and I will try even better so that we can enter third and fourth place [to qualify for the fourth round]," said Shin.

Indonesia will next host Saudi Arabia on Tuesday next week. The team was previously held to a draw by the Garuda squad in an away match last September.

After that, Indonesia will still face two away matches between Australia and Japan as well as two home games against Bahrain and China.