At 7:00 p.m. on October 15 (Vietnam time), the Indonesian team will play against the Chinese team in the fourth round of the third qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup in Asia.
Currently, in Group C, the Indonesian team has 3 points after 3 draws, ranking 5th, while the Chinese team has no points, ranking last.
Japan leads the group with 9 full points after 3 matches, while Australia, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain all have 4 points.
In the fourth round, when Japan meets Australia and Saudi Arabia meets Bahrain, Indonesia has a chance to improve its position if it wins against China.
With what has been shown recently, coach Shin Tae-yong and his team can be optimistic about victory, even though the history of confrontation is not on their side.
Statistics show that the two teams have met 17 times in history, with 11 wins for the Chinese team and 3 for the Indonesian team.
But one of the three victories of the Indonesian team came in the first time the two teams met. That was in May 1957, the first leg of the 1958 World Cup qualifiers. Indonesia won 2-0 with a double from Ramang at Senayan Stadium.
In the second leg in Beijing, Ramang also scored a double, however, the Indonesian team lost 3-4.
In their group, Chinese Taipei withdrew, so the two teams played a third match on neutral ground in Myanmar. After both 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of extra time, the two teams drew 0-0.
Indonesia won the ticket to continue but in the second round - combining representatives of Asia and Africa, the Indonesian team withdrew.
In 1971, at the Presidents Cup in Korea, Indonesia won the second match against the Chinese team (2-1).
1987 was the last victory of the Indonesian team against the Chinese team at the King's Cup friendly tournament in Thailand (3-1).
In 17 meetings, the two teams met 7 times in friendly tournaments. Meanwhile, apart from the 1958 World Cup qualifiers, they met 7 other times in official tournaments - the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers.
In the 5 times they met at the Asian Cup, the Chinese team won in 1992 (2-0), 2000 (4-0), 2004 (5-0), 1-0 (2013). The remaining match ended in a 1-1 draw, also at the 2013 Asian Cup.
In the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese team won both matches with scores of 5-1 (home) and 2-0 (away).
