Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesia defeated Saudi Arabia and secured its first win in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup.
He jumped from the last place (sixth) to the third place. He will now be able to win the ticket to directly advance to the World Cup finals for the first time in 88 years since 1938.
Indonesia, led by South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong, defeated Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Middle East, 2-0 at home in Group C of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup at Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia on the 19th.
Indonesia, which had three draws and two losses in the previous five games, increased its chances of advancing to the World Cup finals by accumulating six points (1 win, 3 draws and 2 losses) and moving from the lowest sixth place to third place.
In the third Asian qualifying round, the first and second places in each group will go straight to the finals, and the third and fourth places will go to the fourth qualifying round, where six countries will compete again for tickets to the World Cup.
Head coach Shin Tae-yong originally aimed to advance to the fourth qualifying round, but under the current circumstances, going straight to the finals is no longer a dream.
Coach Shin, who took the helm of Indonesia in 2020, advanced Indonesia to the qualifying stage, where the World Cup finals will be decided for the first time, and led the team to a historic first victory at this stage. 메이저사이트
This is the first time that Indonesia has won against Western Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
In Group C, the Japanese are ranking first with five wins and one draw (16 points), and the remaining five teams are engaged in a difficult race with almost all the tickets to the finals. Australia, which drew 2-2 in Bahrain on the day, is ranking second with one win, four draws and one loss, seven points, but Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and China are all ranking third to sixth with six points, just one point behind Australia.
We don’t know which of the five teams will win the ticket to the finals given to the first and second place in each group in the third qualifying round.
In particular, Indonesia was in sixth place before the match against Saudi Arabia, but soared to third place through a two-goal victory.
Marcellino Ferdinand, an attacking midfielder who plays for Oxford United in the English Championship (second division), scored multiple goals and took the lead in Indonesia’s historic victory.
Ferdinand calmly finished Ragnar Oratmangun’s cutback with a right-footed shot in the 32nd minute of the first half and scored the first goal, and also scored a goal in the 7th minute of the second half when Saudi Arabia’s pursuit was strong.
Saudi Arabia had a numerical advantage in the 44th minute of the second half when home center back Justin Herbner was sent off with a second yellow card, but failed to score a goal. The shooting did not follow the luck of hitting the crossbar.
Indonesia is expected to go all out in the home games against Bahrain and China among the remaining four games. Indonesia scored the first goal in an away match in Bahrain in October, but the victory was lost after being hit by an equalizer amid a dubious decision, with the referee giving more time in the second half than was announced. In the subsequent away match in China, they had an advantage of nearly 70% in the share but lost 1-2 due to the opponent’s counterattack.
