On the evening of November 19, the Indonesian team won 2-0 against Saudi Arabia in the 6th match of the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia. Marselino Ferdinan's double helped the team of thousands of islands to their first victory in this qualifying round, and this was the first time after 43 years and 14 confrontations that the Indonesian team was able to defeat Saudi Arabia.
After the match, Indonesia coach Shin Tae-yong revealed: "Saudi Arabia's high pressing ability is very good, so I changed Indonesia's playing formation from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2. My three central midfielders (Marselino, Ivar Jenner and Thom Haye) played well in this match. My instructions were followed very effectively by the players.
Saudi Arabia put a lot of pressure on them so they left a lot of space behind the defence. So I asked the team to play deep and switch quickly and they did that well.
With the preparation, in the first minutes of the match, we could have scored more than 2 goals. But I want to thank the players. They played well in this match."
With 3 more points, the Indonesian team temporarily rose to 3rd place in Group C, the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. Coach Shin Tae-yong also expressed his belief that he will create a miracle with the Indonesian team.
"The recent victory helps us dream of achieving the goal of finishing 3rd or 4th overall. The Indonesian team still has 2 more matches at home. My players have revived their confidence. This is a great motivation for them to believe they can pass this qualifying round," the Korean coach affirmed.
The three decisive matches for Indonesia will be the match against Australia on March 20, 2025, followed by two matches against Bahrain (March 25, 2025) and China (June 5, 2025). These three matches will all take place at the home stadium of the archipelago nation.
