Marselino Ferdinand Continues To Keep World Cup Dreams

Marselino Ferdinand keeps the Indonesian national team's dream of going to the 2026 World Cup (doc. AFC).

JAKARTA - Marselino Ferdinand got all the joy in his football career at a young age. However, he also had to endure a lot of recent misery.

He tried to pursue a career in Europe at the age of 18, joining KMSK Deinze in the Challenger Pro League (League Two of Belagia).

However, Marselino was unable to penetrate Deinze's first team which saw him look for a new port this summer. In total, he only packed three games with 17 minutes of playing.

Marselino then joined Championship (British Second League), Oxford United, in August 2024, but has yet to debut.

The lack of minutes of regular playing has answered the question of why he was marginalized at the starting XI Shin Tae-yong in the Indonesian national team.

Before facing Saudi Arabia in the sixth match, November 19, 2024, Marselino only started once from five matches for the Indonesian national team in the Third Round of the 2026 Asian Zone World Cup Qualification.

It seems that this will not change ahead of the match against Saudi Arabia at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium.

However, it was unexpected that Shin Tae-yong had other views. The South Korean coach gave Marselino the green light to come down from the early minutes.

He firmly reiterated Shin Tae-yong's trust, scoring two goals to inspire the Indonesian national team's stunning 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia.

The victory is historic and will be remembered by loyal supporters of the Garuda Squad for years to come.

How come? The victory was the first in 17 meetings so far. At the same time, the victory was also the first for the Garuda Squad in the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification.

Despite being a hero and successfully facing the difficulties lately, the 20-year-old is still grounded, both in the team's prospects for making big surprises and in his ability to potentially become a differentiator.

"I pray and hope that we play well and get the results we want."

"Before this match, I haven't scored many goals and haven't been able to get into the core line-up. However, right now, I feel ready and able to play from the start."

"I'm a natural goalscorer. So, when I score the first goal, it's very important because I feel free from any pressure or burden."

"Since then, I have been able to play according to my abilities," said Marselino.

Marselino was immediately flooded with praise, from supporters, teammates, to Shin Tae-yong who might even think this victory was bigger than when he was the mastermind behind South Korea's 2-0 win over Germany that knocked Der Panzer out of the 2018 World Cup.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia dominated possession as previously predicted, the Indonesian national team could say it had a larger push of 90 minutes.

They could even score three goals in the first 10 minutes, with one of the chances of Marselino being thwarted by the post when the game had only been running 45 seconds.

That is what prompted the Saudi Arabian coach, Herve Badminton, to praise the Indonesian national team as the appropriate winner.

"I scored tonight, but it went through the hard work of the players and everyone in the team."

"We also followed coach Shin Tae-yong's instructions and adapted to his tactics changes. What we were planning and running was absolutely perfect," said Marselino again.

Amazingly, although this was the first victory of the Indonesian national team in Group C of the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification, the position was lifted to the third ladder, ahead of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and China in terms of goals and goal difference.

None in the group could possibly catch up with leaders of Japan's standings. However, the fact that four teams both have six points, only one point behind Australia in second place, means all teams can still dream of securing automatic tickets to the 2026 World Cup at the end of the Third Round.

While it may seem impossible at first considering his status as an underdog, Indonesia and Marselino will still believe and continue to dream of qualifying for the World Cup, especially after a night like Tuesday.