Score prediction: losing to Bahrain, Indonesia is further away from the World Cup ticket

Indonesia (left) loses stability - Photo: PSSI

There is no shortage of animosity between Indonesia and Bahrain. At the 2007 Asian Cup, Indonesia surprisingly defeated Bahrain, causing the Middle Eastern team to be eliminated from the group stage that year despite defeating South Korea.

When they met again in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Bahrain vented their anger on Indonesia with a 10-0 home win. It was also the heaviest defeat in the history of Indonesian football.

Most recently, the two teams drew 2-2 in the first leg of the World Cup qualifiers. Indonesia was extremely angry with the referee for that draw, because the match was initially announced to have 3 minutes of extra time. But then Bahrain scored an equalizer to make it 2-2 in the... 90+9 minute.

The hostile atmosphere has been rising for many days, to the point that Bahrain has expressed concern and does not want to have to go to Indonesia to play the second leg.

Of course, the match must go on as planned, and Bahrain players promise to be under huge pressure at Gelora Bung Karno tonight.

Along with that is the heavy pressure from the race for tickets. The situation in Group C has been relatively settled when Australia and Saudi Arabia broke away from the group behind, competing for second place after Japan. The remaining 3 teams, Indonesia, Bahrain and China, have 6 points each, and will compete fiercely for fourth place - equivalent to the last place to participate in the 4th qualifying round.

Bookmakers rate Indonesia as the stronger team in this match, with a handicap of 0.5 goals for the whole match and 0.25 goals for the first half. The over/under ratio for the whole match is 2.5 goals, and 1 goal for the first half.

The match promises to have many goals as both teams are determined to win, especially Indonesia. After the crushing defeat to Australia, Coach Kluivert needs to overcome criticism to revive his players.

Indonesia has home advantage, but Bahrain has always shown that they play very well under away pressure. In the first leg, Bahrain beat Australia and drew with Saudi Arabia on their opponent's field. Coach Talajic's team has a knack for playing defensive counter-attacks.

If Indonesia are impatient, they could pay a heavy price, as they did against Australia. Results in the World Cup qualifiers show that Indonesia often get good results when they play a strict defense, as they did against Saudi Arabia (1 win, 1 draw) and Australia in the first leg.

Every time they attack, Indonesia always reveals the obvious weakness of a team that has just been assembled from naturalized players.

Prediction: 1-1 draw at half time, Bahrain win 2-1 on aggregate.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/du-doan-ti-so-thua-bahrain-indonesia-xa-dan-ve-du-world-cup-20250324143414206.htm