Indonesia's fans shout slogans during the 2026 World Cup Asian qualification football match between Indonesia and Japan at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, on November 15, 2024. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)
JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia coach Shin Tae-yong believes his team can continue to challenge for a place at the World Cup finals, despite reaching the halfway point in Asia's third round of preliminaries bottom of their qualifying group.
Indonesia were handed a 4-0 thrashing by their visitors in front of a packed Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on Friday to remain on three points from five games in the region's qualifiers for the 2026 finals.
Shin, however, was upbeat about his side's chances with five matches remaining in the current phase of preliminaries.
"I want to play these third-round matches without any regrets and I hope we are still able to get third or fourth in the table," said the South Korean.
"I can't guarantee that we will, but I still want to challenge.
"As a manger it's unavoidable to have some pressure and I need to embrace that. I want to see the players working as one team and still challenging for the playoff round."
Japan lead the standings with 13 points with Australia, Saudi Arabia and China all seven points adrift of Hajime Moriyasu's side with Bahrain on five and Indonesia propping up the table.
The top two teams in each of Asia's three qualifying groups will claim automatic berths at the World Cup, while the nations finishing third and fourth in the standings will advance to another round, giving hope to teams such as Indonesia.
Indonesia are attempting to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1945, having previously appeared at the finals when known as the Dutch East Indies in 1938.
Despite packing the current squad with Europe-born players recruited from the country's diaspora, Shin's side was outclassed by a Japanese team that sits 115 spots above the Southeast Asian nation in the FIFA world rankings.
"In every single factor in football we are far behind Japan but it's still a shame about the result," said Shin, whose side squandered an early opportunity to take the lead when Ragnar Oratmangoen's effort was saved by Zion Suzuki.
"It's not easy for the players to maintain the same level throughout the entire 90 minutes of the game.
"If Ragnar had scored with that first goal-scoring opportunity, I think the result could have been different.
"But we are the losing team, we have lost and there are no excuses. I still remember that moment and it's a shame."
(Reporting by Michael Church; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) - Reuters
