The Indonesian team will face China in the 9th match of the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.
This is also Indonesia's last home match in the third qualifying round. After that, they will face the top team Japan away.
Coach Patrick Kluivert is confident about the chance to defeat China. He shared on the Indonesian team's homepage last week:
"In fact, we can win against China, for Japan it is a bit difficult. I respect both of these opponents.
I think we have a chance to win against China, while Japan is a very strong team, they have qualified for the World Cup.
We will give our all to win those games," he said.
The Chinese team is currently at the bottom of Group C, very ambitious to win the last two matches against Indonesia and Bahrain.
Coach Branko Ivankovic's team previously defeated Indonesia 2-1 in October 2024.
But at this time, the Indonesian team has improved a lot with the presence of quality naturalized players such as Ole Romeny and Joe Pelupessy.
Patrick Kluivert's team is currently ranked 4th in Group C with 9 points, behind Japan (20 points), Australia (13 points) and Saudi Arabia (10 points). They are three points ahead of the teams behind them, Bahrain and China.
In theory, Indonesia still hopes to be in 2nd place, which means a direct ticket to the World Cup, but with very difficult conditions.
They must win both China and Japan, while waiting for Saudi Arabia and Australia not to win in the remaining two matches.
Jay Idzes and his teammates aim to finish in 3rd or 4th place in Group C to be able to continue competing for a ticket to the 2026 World Cup through the 4th qualifying round.
If they win against China, the archipelago team has a great chance to qualify for the 4th round.
Expected lineup
Indonesia: Emil Audero; Jay Idzes, Rizki Ridho, Justin Hubner, Kevin Diks; Calvin Verdonk, Joe Pelupessy, Thom Haye; Stefano Lilipaly, Egy Maulana Vikri, Ole Romeny
China: Wang Dalei; Jiang Shenglong, Li Lei, Hang Pengfei, Yang Zexiang; Zhengyu Huang, Xu Haoyang, Serginho; Cao Yongjing, Zhang Yuning, Wei Shihao
