Indonesia receives good news in World Cup qualifiers

Group C rankings.

The 1-5 loss to Australia almost ended Indonesia's chances of competing for a direct ticket to the 2026 World Cup. However, the Southeast Asian representative still has a chance to go to North America, through the "roundabout" of the play-off ticket for the third and fourth-placed teams in the qualifying round.

Just a few hours after being pushed down to 5th place, Indonesia returned to 4th place after Bahrain lost 0-2 to Japan. Coach Patrick Kluivert's team has the same 6 points as the Middle Eastern representative but is ranked higher thanks to the number of goals scored (7 compared to 5).

By the early morning of March 21, another competitor to Indonesia, the Chinese team, also lost to Saudi Arabia. Accordingly, after the 7th round of matches, the archipelago team still ranked 4th, the position that brought a ticket to the play-off round.

In the next two rounds, Indonesia will face Bahrain and China directly. If they win, the door to the 2026 World Cup for Marselino and his teammates will not be closed yet.

China cannot take Indonesia's 4th place.

Against the top opponents in the continent, the Chinese team only tried to play defensively in the hope of gaining points at King Saud University Stadium. Coach Branko Ivankovic's team did not have a single shot on target during the entire 90 minutes and had to endure nearly 20 shots from the home team.

After a series of missed opportunities, Saudi Arabia got the opening goal from a close-range finish by Al Hilal star Salem Al Dawsari in the 50th minute.

Lin Liangming's red card gave China no chance to rise up and they accepted the end of the match with a score of 0-1.