“Garuda” Carries Out a Historic Mission

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Indonesian national team is striving to make the most of a full two-day preparation period to break the curse in Australia. The squad coached by Patrick Kluivert is determined to bring home points from the "Socceroos" headquarters to keep alive their hopes of direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

The match between Indonesia and Australia will take place on Thursday (20/3/2025) at 4:10 PM WIB at Sydney Football Stadium. In the first encounter at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium on September 10, 2024, both teams played to a goalless draw, 0-0.

Thom Haye and his colleagues arrived separately from the countries where they pursue their careers. Groups from Europe, the United States, and several Asian countries arrived starting Sunday (16/3/2025) until Tuesday (18/3/2025). Two players who play in the Belgian League, namely Kevin Diks (Copenhagen) and Ragnar Oratmangoen (Dender), were the last to join in Sydney.

Eight players from Indonesia's Liga 1, along with the coaching staff led by Kluivert and PSSI technical advisor Jordi Cruyff, arrived on Monday morning (17/3/2025) local time. The "Garuda" squad focused on physical recovery on Monday.

Intensive training on the green field was conducted this Tuesday. Indonesia trained at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney. The distance between the training location of Jay Idzes and his teammates and the InterContinental Sydney Double Bay Hotel, where the team is staying, is approximately 20 kilometers or about 25 minutes by car.

Of the 29 players brought to Sydney, 27 participated in the first training session on the field. Kevin and Ragnar, who had just arrived, were given the opportunity to undergo only light training at the team's hotel fitness center.

The manager of the Indonesian national team, Sumardji, revealed that all players have successfully followed the training program planned by Kluivert. He is also optimistic that the players taken to Sydney are in a condition ready to play.

"Alhamdulillah, all the players are in good condition. All the players joined in a fit physical condition and there were no injuries," said Sumardji who was contacted from Sydney, Tuesday.

If Indonesia just started training on the field on Tuesday, the host team, Australia, has been training directly on the field since Monday. Under the control of Australian Coach Tony Popovic, the Socceroos squad is doing intensive preparation at Leichhardt Oval Stadium, New South Wales.

The third round match of Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers was the fifth visit of the Indonesian national team to Australia. In the previous five away matches, Indonesia always suffered defeats.

The Garuda team played its first match in Sydney, Australia, in the second match of the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, March 13, 1973. At that time, Indonesia lost 1-2. An Indonesian goal was scored by midfielder, Iswadi Idris.

We didn't come to Australia to just draw. We came to win.

Up until the next four matches in Australia, Iswadi is still the only Indonesian player who has been able to score against the Socceroos in the duel in the "Land of the Kangaroos".

In the next three matches, Indonesia was crushed 0-6 in the second duel in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers. The match was marred by a head injury suffered by the Indonesian goalkeeper, Ronny Paslah.

More than a decade later, Indonesia returned to Australia to play in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. The match took place in Melbourne on May 20, 1981, and was also won by Australia with a score of 2-0.

Entering the new millennium, Indonesia has challenged Australia twice on their home turf. Once again, the Garuda squad returned home with their heads bowed. Indonesia fell 0-5 in a friendly match in Perth, March 2005, then lost 0-1 in Brisbane in the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers, March 2010.

With a negative record in the previous five visits to Australia, it did not shake the Garuda squad. Thom, the Indonesian midfielder, did not want to just think about bringing home a point or a draw from Australia.

"We didn't come to Australia just to draw. We played to hunt for victory," said Thom as reported by the PSSI website.

Meanwhile, Australia is determined not to drop any more points at home in the third round of 2026 World Cup qualifying. In their previous three home games, the Socceroos have only won once. That was when they beat China, 3-1.

The other two home games against Middle Eastern counterparts Bahrain and Saudi Arabia ended in a winless draw. Australia lost 1-0 to Bahrain and were then held to a 0-0 draw by Saudi Arabia.

Adam Taggart, the Australian striker, understands that beating Indonesia is not an easy matter. According to the Perth Glory player, Indonesia is one of the teams in Asia that has undergone the fastest development in the past year.

"As a nation, they (Indonesia) continue to develop. I was very impressed with them when we last met at their home ground. So, Indonesia is certainly a team that is getting closer (to our quality)," Taggart said as reported by the Socceroos page.

He added: "We're going to have a massive game, but this is what we want when we play football. We can't wait for the game."

Australia are without star centre-back Harry Souttar; midfielder Massimo Luongo; full-back Alessandro Circati; and veteran striker Mitch Duke. However, Popovic can still rely on a number of experienced players, such as Matthew Ryan, Jackson Irvine, Aziz Behich, and Martin Boyle.