Kluivert highlight injury and total evaluation ahead of the fourth round of Indonesia

Viralterkini.id, Jakarta -The Indonesian national team must swallow a defeat 0-6 from Japan in the last match of Group C third round of the 2026 Asian Zone Qualifiers held at the Panasonic Suita Stadium, Osaka, Tuesday (10/6/2025).

This result is a heavy blow to the Garuda squad ahead of the fourth round which will be held in October.

The head coach of the Indonesian national team, Patrick Kluivert, did not cover his disappointment after the match. He claimed this result was very far from expectations, especially his team was unable to provide significant resistance throughout the fight.

“Yes, this is very unfortunate. This is not a reason, but I am very sorry for this result,” Kluivert said in a post -match press conference session.

In the match, the Indonesian national team was already behind 0-3 in the first round. Japan appeared dominant since the early minutes and scored three goals through Brace from Daichi Kamada and one goal from Takefusa Kubo.

In the second half, Japan’s dominance continued. Three additional goals were scored by Roya Morishita, Shuto Machino, and Mao Hosoya, fulfilling the score to 6-0.

The most striking, the Indonesian national team was not even able to release a single shot on target for 90 minutes.

This statistics show how the gap in the quality of the game between the two teams is so large.

Kluivert revealed, one of the main obstacles in this match was the player’s injury problem.

A number of main pillars cannot play or have to be pulled out due to injuries suffered during the match.

“Before the match, Rizky Ridho had a hamstring problem and could not be played. Then in the middle of the match, Kevin Diks was also injured and I had to replace Yakob Sayuri. But James was injured so that it was replaced by Marselino Ferdinan,” he explained.

This situation makes the tactic plan that has been prepared from the beginning to not go as expected.

Sudden changes in defense and wing lines have made the rhythm of Indonesian games disrupted since the beginning of the fight.

“Of course as a coach I do not want to feel the results like this. The tactics we prepared must change because of unexpected conditions. I have calculated some possibilities, but in reality it is still difficult to anticipate when I have to lose players in a row,” said the 44 -year -old Dutch coach.

However, Kluivert stressed that this defeat should be an important lesson for the Indonesian national team who still had the opportunity to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

In the fourth round, two tickets will be contested to the World Cup finals from the Asian zone.

“We are very disappointed, but we have to learn from this big defeat. The most important thing now is to analyze the results of this match and prepare for the next games,” Kluivert said.

The Indonesian national team certainly advanced to the fourth round after ending Group C in third position, under Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

This success itself has recorded history, because for the first time Indonesia reached this phase in the Asian Zone World Cup qualification.

But the challenges in the next round will be much heavier. The best teams from other groups will compete for two automatic tickets to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) is also predicted to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the team’s performance, both in terms of tactics and physical conditions of the players.

The injury problem that befell a number of players is one of the main focus to be improved before the fourth round begins.

Meanwhile, support from the national football public is still expected to maintain the enthusiasm of the players and the coaching team.

Although slaughtered by Japan, the national team trip in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is still open and requires consistency and champion mentality in each of the next matches.

Patrick Kluivert closed his statement with optimism, although it remains realistic about the big challenges before his eyes.

“We have to study together. We will rise and make more careful preparations for the next matches,” he concluded.