SYDNEY, Australia — Lamenting a missed penalty he believes would have completely altered the game, Indonesia coach Patrick Kluivert has said he wants to see his side continue to employ the high-pressure, high-pressing style they showed in his first game in charge — despite their eventual 5-1 loss to Australia.
Urged on by what was a majority Indonesian-supporting crowd — despite the game being played at the Sydney Football Stadium — Tim Garuda leapt on the Socceroos early in Thursday evening’s Asian qualifier for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and produced a dominant opening period.
Two goals in two minutes from Martin Boyle and Nishan Velupillay in the 18th and 20th minutes respectively, however, served to break the visitor’s momentum and they found themselves 3-0 down heading into the halftime break thanks to Jackson Irvine.
Lewis Miller added a fourth for the Australians just past the hour and, while Ole Romeny dragged one back for Indonesia in the 78th minute, the Australians had the final word through Irvine’s second of the game in the 90th minute.
If not for a magnificent save from Mat Ryan on a fifth-minute Jay Idzes header, though, or had Kevin Diks sent an 8th minute penalty into the net rather than crashing off the woodwork, the game could have potentially been much different — something that Kluivert mused on post-game.
“In the beginning of the game, we did a very good job in pressing high,” he said. “Exactly on the right side where we wanted to press, because we knew on the left side they have the good players.
“And from my point of view, it went very well.
“After that, we received the penalty. If you [score] the penalty, it will be a totally different match. But unfortunately, Kevin hit the post and from that moment, we changed something in our minds or something — we didn’t play our play anymore.
“But during the game, I think that we fought like lions. We never dropped our heads. But unfortunately, I’m very disappointed with the result, not only for us but for everybody who is supporting Indonesia.”
Indonesia had held the Socceroos to a 0-0 draw the last time the two nations met in Jakarta, set up by former coach Shin Tae-Yong to sit deep in a disciplined shape and take advantage of their opponent’s struggles against defensive blocks.
But with Kluivert now at the helm following Shin’s shock sacking, Tim Garuda sought to play an expansive brand of football on Thursday, ending the game with more possession, more shots, more corners, and more touches in their opponent’s penalty area despite being on the road against higher-ranked opposition.
Unfortunately, a lot of this played right into Australia coach Tony Popovic’s hands, the former AFC Champions League winner with Western Sydney Wanderers excelling at organising his sides to be disciplined, compact, and punish sides for their mistakes in possession.
And when this combined with clinical finishing — the Socceroos’ 56% shot conversion rate was their third-highest in a game since Opta began collecting the data in 2015 — this resulted in a heavy defeat.
Nonetheless, Kluivert, a legendary striker for Barcelona and Netherlands in his playing days, said that he wanted his side to continue to deploy an attacking style.
“That’s my playing style,” he said. “From the beginning, we had a grip of the game. I think that we played better than Australia.
“But unfortunately, [that’s] how important it is to make a penalty — what it does mentally is a big thing. If you score and it’s 1-0, I’m sure it will be a totally different game.”
“The work mentality, the work ethic of the players — I’m very happy about it. And if you concede the goal like this with personal mistakes, you need to work. We need to work. And that’s normal.”
Indonesia sit fourth in Group C following Thursday evening, level on points with Bahrain and China — who lost to Japan and Saudi Arabia respectively — but kept ahead by goal difference and goals scored.
Tim Garuda will host the Bahrainis in Jakarta on Tuesday evening, as well as welcome China to Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in their penultimate game of the third phase of Asian qualifiers in June.
With the bottom two sides in the six-nation group set to be eliminated from qualifying entirely — the sides finishing third and fourth will move on to a fourth round, while the nation that finishes second will join Japan in qualifying for 2026 — wins in those games will be vital if Indonesia’s remarkable run is to continue — starting with the Pearl Divers next week.
“It will be a very difficult game again,” said Kluivert. “The most important thing is to get the minds back together, give them positive energy.
“Because we started the game well, we executed what we planned. It worked out well. And unfortunately, we couldn’t get a grip on the game and that’s a pity.
“But we need to get our heads together, get the positivity back in the group and try to get a good result, and we need to have a good result against Bahrain.”