Indonesia will host Bahrain with the goal of having to win to have a chance to participate in the 4th qualifying round. After a heavy 1-5 loss to Australia, the archipelago team has almost run out of opportunities to compete for second place in the group - corresponding to a direct ticket to the 2026 World Cup.
The more likely target for them is 3rd and 4th place in Group C - two places in the 4th qualifying round. Indonesia is currently ranked 4th on the rankings, with the same 6 points as Bahrain but is ranked higher due to a better goal difference.
In the first leg at Bahrain's home ground, Indonesia regrettably dropped points with a 2-2 draw. Mohamed Marhoon's goal in the 9th minute of injury time saved a valuable point for Bahrain.
It is worth mentioning that both of Indonesia's goals conceded in this match came from a dead ball situation, one from a direct free kick, the other from a corner kick.
In the match against Australia, 3/5 of the goals conceded by the archipelago team also came from set pieces. Coach Patrick Kluivert will certainly have to make adjustments to improve his defense in the reunion with Bahrain at Gelora Bung Karno.
The pressure of the Southeast Asian representative was to score first. Because they have never come back from behind to score in the third qualifying round (lost 1-2 to China, lost 4-0 to Japan, lost 1-5) Even when they opened the scoring against Bahrain in the first leg in October, they could not win all 3 points.
On the other side, Bahrain is a tough opponent. In the previous match, they caused a lot of difficulties for Japan, despite receiving a final defeat of 0-2. This team also beat Australia and drew with Saudi Arabia.
Dragan Talajic's team played impressively in the 2025 Gulf Cup at the beginning of the year and won the championship. Although Indonesia has the home field advantage, it cannot be subjective against this opponent.
Expected lineup
Indonesia: Maarten Paes; Kevin Diks, Mees Hilgers, Jay Idzes, Calvin Verdonk; Ivar Jenner, Thom Haye, Marselino Ferdinan; Eliano Reijnders, Ole Romeny, Rafael Struick.
Bahrain: Ebrahim Lutfalla; Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Bager, Amine Benaddi, Abdulla Al-Khulasi; Mohamed Marhoon, Ali Haram, Abbas Al-Asfoor, Ali Madan; Kamil Al-Aswad, Mahdi Abduljabbar.
