Indonesian National Team Forbidden to Get Points Against Australia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Indonesian national team must not return empty-handed when they challenge Australia, Thursday (20/3/2025) at 16:10 WIB, at the Sydney Football Stadium in the seventh match of Group C in the third round of the 2026 AFC World Cup qualifiers. There are three important provisions for the "Garuda" squad to end their record of always losing when playing away to Australia since 1973.

Indonesia continues its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with four new faces. Ole Romeny (Oxford United/forward), Emil Audero (Palermo/goalkeeper), Dean James (Go Ahead Eagles/left wing-back), and Joey Pelupessy (Lommel/midfielder) add quality and depth to the squad.

The presence of the four new players has skyrocketed the Indonesian national team's accumulated market value. Referring to Transfermarkt data, the 29 players brought by Indonesian Coach Patrick Kluivert to Sydney generated a market value of Rp634.86 billion.

No wonder, it is the highest market value in the history of the Indonesian national team. Indonesia is also in sixth place as the team with the highest market value in Asia today.

The Garuda squad's market value ranking is only lower than Japan (Rp 5.3 trillion), South Korea (Rp 2.1 trillion), Uzbekistan (Rp 1.2 trillion), Iran (Rp 804.7 billion), and the United Arab Emirates (Rp 770.8 billion). Indonesia is the most expensive team in Group C of the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The value of the Indonesian squad has surpassed two regular World Cup teams from Asia, such as Saudi Arabia (Rp 532.7 billion), and Indonesia's opponent in the seventh game, Australia (Rp 412.8 billion). The high market value is based on the assessment of the current player performance and the individual quality of each player so it is fitting that Indonesia proves their high price on the grass of the Sydney Football Stadium.

"I think the team is ready. They know what to expect from the game tomorrow (Thursday). So, we are really looking forward to playing the game," Kluivert said in a pre-match press conference, Wednesday (19/3/2025), at the Sydney Football Stadium. On that occasion, Kluivert was accompanied by center back and team captain Jay Idzes.

In addition, Indonesia has also been equipped with a new coaching staff "carriage" under the command of Kluivert. The former Dutch national team striker is supported by 10 assistants, including three assistants, namely Alex Pastoor, Denny Landzaat, and Gerald Vanenburg. Not to mention, Kluivert is also guided by experienced technical advisor Jordi Cruyff.

Kluivert and his coaching team are actually better than the Australian coaching staff led by Tony Popovic. Popovic's core staff is also half less than Kluivert's or only five people, consisting of two assistant coaches, a goalkeeping coach, a team of analysts, and a nutritionist.

In terms of experience as a tactician, Popovic spent most of his time in Australia, winning domestic titles for Western Sydney Wanderers, Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory. Kluivert, although he has only been head coach of the Curacao national team and Adana Demirspor, has served as Louis van Gaal's assistant at the 2014 World Cup. Kluivert also served as Barcelona's Academy Director from 2019-2021.

As a result, armed with the quality of players and coaches who are actually better, Indonesia has the opportunity to end its record of always losing at Australia's home. Since undergoing the 1974 World Cup qualifying match on March 13, 1973, which ended in a 1-2 defeat, Indonesia also fell on four subsequent visits until the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers in March 2010. Indonesia's match record at Australia's home base is scoring one goal and conceding 14 goals.

"I am very happy with the quality we have in the team. Everything can be better. We didn't have much time to prepare, but I have a very good feeling about all the players individually," added Kluivert.

Jay Idzes also does not want to disappoint the Indonesian people. He is determined to repay the support of the supporters, both those present at the stadium and the millions of Indonesians who watched the Garuda squad from the country.

"We have spoken among the players about the meaning of the game. It is very important that all the players understand that we are fighting and representing our country, 280 million people behind us," said Jay, who plays for Venezia in Italy's Serie A.

Another advantage for Indonesia is the absence of a number of key Australian players, including Harry Souttar, Alessandro Circati, Jordan Bos, Riley McGree, Massimo Luongo, Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke, due to fitness issues.

Despite losing a number of key players, Popovic is confident that the quality of his team's performance will not decline. Since Popovic took over, the Socceroos have only won against China and drawn with Japan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

"We are looking closely at the line-up of players in the back and in the middle. There may be players in different positions. I am sure we have enough quality to face various situations in the match," Popovic said in a press conference ahead of the match.

He added that Kluivert's presence makes the Indonesian squad still difficult to predict. Because, Australia does not have the data and playing style of Kluivert who will make his debut in Sydney.

"Our main goal is to focus on ourselves. We are confident that we can play the football we want," he said.

Indonesia and Australia are hunting for points in Sydney. The winner of that match will be assured of second place and open up hopes of accompanying Japan to win a ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

On the other hand, the team that suffers a defeat has the potential to experience a drop in ranking. In the other two games of Group C, Saudi Arabia will meet China, then Japan will face Bahrain. If they beat Bahrain in Saitama, Japan could become the first team to secure qualification for the 2026 World Cup from the qualifying round.