Indonesia team revives World Cup dream: Coach Kluivert is not incompetent

Coach Kluivert is not incompetent

A ton of pressure has been heaped on coach Patrick Kluivert after Indonesia suffered a 1-5 defeat to Australia on March 20. The defeat was like a bucket of cold water on Indonesia’s burning ambition to participate in the 2026 World Cup. With an unflattering CV and poor past performance, Kluivert has faced a lot of doubts.

Heat map of Indonesia in the first half of the match against Bahrain. They dominated their opponents with a strong pressing style of play (Photo: AFC).

Indonesia's heat map in the second half shows that they actively retreated to their home field more than in the first half (Photo: AFC).

Many experts in Indonesia believe that Kluivert is just incompetent, not suitable to lead the team towards a ticket to the World Cup. Many people called coach Shin Tae Yong at that time as the savior for the Indonesian team.

But remember, coach Mourinho was defeated 0-5 in his first El Clasico when leading Real Madrid in 2010. Kluivert was in the same situation. He could not imagine the horror of his opponent in his first big match, when there was not much preparation time.

Rizky Ridho was encouraged to move up to support the attack (Screenshot).

By the match against Bahrain on March 25, people saw a completely different face of Indonesia. Coach Kluivert remained loyal to the Dutch style of total play, but the way Garuda (the nickname of the Indonesian team) operated had changed.

Mees Hilgers' injury accidentally helped Kluivert discover an important factor in the form of local player Rizky Ridho. This player "fills" the right-sided role in Indonesia's three central defenders. However, the Dutch coach has brought out Rizky Ridho's strengths very well in both attack and defense.

In defense, Rizky Ridho is the first stopper in Indonesia's defense (Screenshot).

In the attacking game, Rizky Ridho, whose strength is ball control and good passing, was allowed by coach Kluivert to carry the ball into the opponent's half to play a coordinating role. Thanks to that, Indonesia had a large number of players for the attacking front and showed superiority in dominating the game with Bahrain.

In defense, Rizky Ridho was also the first to intercept in defense and started to organize counterattacks. Fotmob gave Rizky Ridho 7.4 points with a passing accuracy of 78%, 6 interceptions, 4 ball recoveries and 3 wins.

Indonesia often puts the entire team on one wing, then suddenly switches to the opposite wing with a long pass (Screenshot).

It is no coincidence that coach Kluivert praised this native central defender: "Rizky Ridho played very well. I know his talent. Today, Rizky Ridho showed an amazing performance."

In addition, the appearance of Joey Pelupessy helped Thom Haye share the burden in the midfield area. In the match against Australia, coach Kluivert was forced to use Nathan Tjoe-A-On, a player who specializes in playing on the wing and is not used much at the club. That made Garuda unable to compete with Australia in the midfield battle.

Pelupessy's strengths are his energetic playing style, not hesitating to make contact. In addition, he also has good ball control. Football expert Gita Suwondo admitted: "Thanks to Pelupessy in midfield, Indonesia was less fragile than in the match against Australia. The team's midfield played tightly and counterattacked well."

Indonesia's formation in blocking Bahrain was very good. The appearance of Belgian midfielder Joey Pelupessy made a difference compared to the match against Australia (Screenshot).

All in all, Bahrain's ability to organize the team cannot be compared to Australia's. That makes it easier for Indonesia to deploy the ball. Coach Kluivert uses many tactics of overloading the ball to the wing and then suddenly switching to the opposite wing. Bahrain has been unable to stop this deployment of Indonesia many times.

Importantly, Indonesia was no longer "heatstroke" like in the match against Australia. After an exciting first half, coach Kluivert's team knew how to retreat, play slower in the second half and take advantage of their speed to counterattack.

Overall, this is a good strategy from coach Kluivert. However, it depends on the situation. Suppose if Indonesia scored the first goal against Australia, they could definitely choose this way of playing. Anyway, after two matches, Kluivert's style of play is gradually being revealed.

Perhaps the thing that Indonesia needs to improve the most at the moment is their finishing ability. The appearance of Ole Romeny has helped Garuda's attack become sharper. However, the remaining satellites such as Marselino Ferdinan or Eliano Reijnders have shown to lose their composure and squandered great opportunities. To ensure Kluivert's tactics go in the right direction, Indonesia needs to "sharpen their claws".

Coach Patrick Kluivert relieves pressure after losing to Australia (Photo: Bola).

Find a common "language", wait for the day to spread wings

Recently, there has been a common "formula" to attack the psychology of Indonesian players, which is to divide the team internally. Before the match against Indonesia, Bahrain coach Dragan Talajic mentioned at least twice that there were too many Dutch players in the Indonesian squad. "A country with 300 million people still needs Dutch players", that was the statement of the Croatian coach.

Of course, coach Dragan Talajic is not the first person to talk about this. This is a very sensitive issue. Because, for a long time, within the Indonesian football community, many conflicting opinions have appeared regarding the fact that local players no longer have a place to develop in the context of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) naturalizing too many players from Europe (mainly of Dutch origin).

Indonesia shows solidarity in the face of divisive statements from opponents (Photo: Bola).

For that reason, the Indonesian team is trying to quell the "rumors" by finding a common "language", which is unity and the spirit of sportsmanship. It is no coincidence that the naturalized players (Justin Hubner, Ole Romeny) and the native players (Rizky Ridho) all spoke out against the Bahrain coach after the match.

"This is what happens to opponents who disrespect the Indonesian team," Justin Hubner announced on Instagram. Meanwhile, Rizky Ridho said: "No matter where the Indonesian team is made up of individuals from, we will try to maintain unity."

The reason PSSI President Erick Thohir put coach Kluivert on the "hot seat" is also because he does not want to create division within the team. The squad with most of the players speaking Dutch should be led by a Dutch coach.

Recently sharing with NOS (Netherlands), billionaire Erick Thohir clearly stated his "non-discriminatory" point of view: "We want to gather the strength of the Indonesian migrant community around the world. Local players can also learn from these teammates and participate in realizing the dream of participating in the World Cup of the Indonesian team.

Players like Thom Haye, Mees Hilgers and Eliano Reijnders also love Indonesian culture. They are very much loved by fans in the archipelago. We don't care where people come from. Indonesian fans always open their arms to people from far away."

Indonesia needs an increasingly strong squad to match the tactics and demands of top-flight football. That is why President Erick Thohir has to scour Europe for quality faces to upgrade the squad.

Don't be surprised if Indonesia add more naturalized players in June, in a more advanced version. They only have two decisive matches left in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against China and Japan.

Only unity can help Indonesia realize its World Cup dream (Photo: AFC).

Currently, Indonesia is ranked 4th in Group C of the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, 3 points ahead of China and Bahrain, 4 points behind second-placed Australia and 1 point behind third-placed Saudi Arabia. The opportunity to participate in the World Cup is still there for Indonesia, allowing them to nurture a burning determination in the next few months.

According to the NU newspaper (Netherlands), Indonesia participated in the 1938 World Cup under the name of Dutch East Indies. Now, this team is called "Netherlands 2" to participate in the World Cup is not too big of a problem.

World Cup 2026 qualifying group C rankings in Asia (Photo: FIFA).

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/tuyen-indonesia-song-lai-giac-mo-world-cup-hlv-kluivert-khong-he-bat-tai-20250327020448314.htm