The Australian men’s football team’s head coach Tony Popovic believes there will be a degree of the unknown when his side face an Indonesian team led for the first time by Patrick Kluivert in a qualifying match for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The teams meet in Sydney on Thursday in a crucial clash with both battling to nab the second spot in Asian qualifying Group C alongside Japan, who have all but locked up the top spot.
Australia’s hopes of securing the second automatic ticket to the finals from the group will rest on how they fare against Indonesia and China, whom they face in Hangzhou on Tuesday.
The top two sides in the group are guaranteed a berth at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Indonesia, who stand with three other nations a point behind second-placed Australia in the group, have experienced a significant upturn in fortunes due to an influx of mainly Dutch-born members of the country’s diaspora.
They drew 0-0 with Australia in a qualifier in Jakarta in September, stunned Saudi Arabia 2-0 in November, and in January brought former Dutch international Kluivert on board as coach.
Meanwhile, Popovic replaced Graham Arnold as the Australian coach.
Thursday’s game will be Barcelona and Dutch great Kluivert’s first in charge of the Southeast Asian nation, who are attempting to reach the World Cup for the first time since independence in 1945.
“We’ve analysed Indonesia, we know there’s a new coach, we don’t know how he will set up,” said the former Crystal Palace defender Popovic.
“Of course we’ve seen what he’s done previously in various jobs he’s been involved in, in terms of the structure and shape that he plays.
“But we have to focus on us and know that we can deal with any structure that comes our way.”
Popovic, who is missing key players in central defence, cautioned that patience may be required if Kluivert instructs his men to sit deep and defend in numbers.
“We have to be prepared to do whatever the moment allows us and if it’s not on, be patient and wait for the opening,” he said.
‘Put Indonesia on the map’
Meanwhile, Kluivert has promised some surprises from his team, despite only having had a couple of training sessions with his squad since taking over.
With many of his players flying in from their clubs in Europe, Kluivert admitted that there had not been enough time to really impose his ideas on the squad but said he was confident they were ready to challenge for a first win over Australia since 1981.
“Changing is impossible at the moment,” he said.
“But of course, there’s things I don’t just explain here, but there will be some, some things change, but that’s between us.
“I think the team is ready. They know what we expect tomorrow.”
One of the Dutch-born players is their captain Jay Idzes.
“I think we showed already the last year, maybe a little bit more, that Indonesia is a country that has to be dealt with,” Idzes said.
“Hopefully, and I truly believe it, in the next years we can really put Indonesia on the map.”
Kluivert said he and his assistants, who include former Barcelona forward Jordi Cruyff, had not been idle since their appointments, travelling around Indonesia and spending time visiting their Europe-based players to “share their philosophy”.
“I’m very happy about the quality that we have in the group. Everything can be better,” Kluivert said.
Idzes put paid to any suggestion that the players from the diaspora were not as emotionally invested in Indonesian football as local players.
“We speak between the players about what this game means to us, and I’m not expecting anything else than our absolute best tomorrow,” said the Venezia centre half.
“It’s really important that everybody understands that we’re fighting and representing our country, 280 million people are on our backs. For me, personally, I don’t feel the extra pressure. I just feel the extra support from everybody.”
Indonesia face Bahrain at home on Tuesday.
Failure to finish in the top two of the group after the remaining four matches of the third round of Asian qualifying would still leave the possibility of passage via a fourth round or intercontinental playoffs.
