The Indonesian National Team Was Haram Inferior at Saudi Arabian Headquarters

TANGERANG, KOMPAS – The first "final" match for the Indonesian national football team on the road to the 2026 World Cup will take place against Saudi Arabia on Thursday (9/10/2025) at 00:15 WIB at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah. Although the home team is favored, the "Garuda" squad has no reason to feel inferior in their pursuit of their first victory in the den of the "Green Falcons."

Indonesia will play its eighth away match at the home of Saudi Arabia. Visiting the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula since 1980, the team coached by PSSI has returned home without defeat only once.

The moment was created when Indonesia held Saudi to a 1-1 draw in the opening match of the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in September 2024. Sandy Walsh became the second player of the "Garuda" team to score against Saudi on their home ground, following Ronny Wabia in 1996.

Playing under the pressure of more than 50,000 home supporters, along with other non-technical factors, including the Kuwaiti referee, Ahmed al-Ali, who certainly speaks Arabic, should not diminish the fighting spirit of the team coached by Patrick Kluivert. In fact, the match against Saudi Arabia is the best opportunity for the Indonesian national team to prove their true quality.

Kluivert is supported by 19 players who have made a name in Europe, also known as naturalized footballers. Meanwhile, 10 other players are purely products of local academies. Thus, the Garuda squad has a player composition that is nearly on par with Saudi.

This is evident in the market values of the squads of both teams. Saudi is composed of players with a total market value of IDR 531.8 billion, while Indonesia has players with a market value of IDR 511.9 billion.

Ilham Jayakesuma, a legend of the Indonesian national team, stated that the presence of players who are currently or have previously played in Europe is an additional asset for the Indonesian squad compared to past visits to Saudi Arabia. He acknowledged that playing in the Middle East will not be easy.

"It is important to have a strong mentality so as not to feel inferior. Saudi, the host team, will certainly have non-technical advantages. They will also play hard and fast, but the quality of our players is now on par with theirs. That is our preparation to surprise them," said Ilham after leading the U-20 Persita Tangerang team training on Tuesday (7/10/2025) afternoon at the Mini Stadium Pagedangan, Tangerang, Banten.

The scorer of one goal when Indonesia faced Saudi Arabia in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers in October 2004 stated that Indonesia must play sharply in the attacking line. Making the most of even the smallest opportunities is essential for the Garuda squad to conquer Saudi Arabia. Reflecting on the encounter in the third round, Indonesia scored through their first shot on goal against Saudi Arabia.

"In the upcoming match, the players' task is to exploit space and every opportunity. The ability of attacking players, whether forwards, wingers, or midfielders, to score first will spread positive morale among the other players," said Ilham, who has scored 13 goals in 18 caps for the Indonesian national team.

Indonesia's coach Patrick Kluivert shares the same perspective as Ilham. According to Kluivert, his players must perform flawlessly against Saudi Arabia and Iraq in order to achieve the goal of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

"The most important thing is that we must execute the game plan, take advantage of set pieces, control the ball, and implement the scheme effectively when we lose possession. Everything must go perfectly," said Kluivert.

He added, "We are only 180 minutes away from the team's biggest goal. We will do everything to qualify (for the 2026 World Cup)."

One crucial decision Kluivert and his two assistants, Alex Pastoor and Denny Landzaat, made was a lone striker. Ole Romeny wasn't yet 100 percent fit due to a knee injury sustained in the 2025 President's Cup. Therefore, he wasn't in peak fitness.

This situation leaves Kluivert with only Ramadhan Sananta and Mauro Zijlstra as pure center forwards ready to play. Referring to these two players, Ilham is more inclined to choose Sananta, who deserves to start from the first minute.

In his performance at the beginning of the 2025-2026 season, Sananta has already appeared eight times for DPMM FC, a club owned by the Kingdom of Brunei Darussalam, in the Malaysian competition. He has contributed two goals. Meanwhile, Mauro must remain patient and prove himself again as he has yet to play a single minute with Volendam in the Dutch League.

Ilham believes that the attacking sector is the weakest aspect of the Indonesian squad under Kluivert. Regardless of Kluivert's choice for the main striker, Ilham emphasized a message to the spearhead of the Garuda team who performed since the kickoff against Alap-alap Hijau.

"Essentially, being a striker is not difficult. There is no need to run around a lot or touch the ball, as a striker is assessed based on their cleverness in utilizing space for opportunistic situations to score goals," said Ilham.

Saudi coach Herve Renard acknowledged that the support from fans in Jeddah is an advantage that his players must capitalize on. He felt the abundant support from the public in Jeddah during his team's preparations for the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

"I think the whole country will be behind us. We know what they expect, but we also expect them to support us. From the first shot to the last. Together, we will achieve our goal (qualifying for the World Cup)," Renard told Arab News.

In two home matches under Renard during the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Saudi Arabia's performance record was not very positive. They won once 1-0 against China, then suffered a 1-2 defeat to Australia.