Indonesia, ASEAN football’s sleeping giant, roused from its slumber last Tuesday as Shin Tae-yong’s side recorded a win over Saudi Arabia that takes them closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 finals and boosts the Merah Putih ahead of the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ 2024.
Confidence within the football-mad nation of 280 million people is at its highest level in decades after Marselino Ferdinan’s brace handed Saudi Arabia, three-times AFC Asian Cup winners a resounding defeat at a sold-out Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
Victory over the illustrious Saudis, a nation that has played at the FIFA World Cup on six occasions, means Indonesia are now on a level-footing with some of the continent’s genuine heavyweights. The Saudi Arabia team defeated by Indonesia featured six of the players who started in the Gulf nation’s famous victory over Argentina in the nations’ opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a tournament Lionel Messi and company went on to win.
Indonesia now ranks third in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian qualifying round standings and within touching distance of a berth in the tournament finals. They are the only nation from Southeast Asia to have appeared at the FIFA World Cup since its inauguration in 1930, the country featuring at the 1938 edition when known as the Dutch East Indies.
The Merah Putih’s recent performances at the FIFA World Cup Asian qualifying round have pointed towards a significant upswing in the country’s fortunes at international level. The win over Saudi Arabia ensures Shin and his squad go into the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ 2024 brimming with confidence.
Remarkably, the country has yet to win the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ since its inception in 1996, finishing as runners-up a record six times. They last fell at the final hurdle in 2020, when Thailand handed Indonesia a 6-2 defeat over two legs.
Shin’s team will kick off their quest for a first regional title in Yangon against Myanmar on December 9 before hosting Laos three days later in Jakarta. They will then take on Vietnam and the Philippines on December 15 and 21 respectively.
Indonesia’s aim will be to finish in one of the top two positions to advance to the semi-finals, where they will hope to push for another final appearance and, perhaps, their first-ever Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ title.
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