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mid a rash of discipline and attitude problems, the national soccer squad hopes to keep its window open in the 2014 World Cup Asian qualifier with a win over Qatar in the Group E match in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesia is on life support at the bottom of the Group E standings with zero points after its previous home loss to Bahrain (0-2)
and away loss to Iran (0-3). Qatar is in better shape with two points from draws with both Iran and Bahrain.

Indonesia national team coach Wim Risjbergen said he had psychology experts working to help mend the team’s mental obstacles.

“Just like when preparing for the previous matches against Iran and Bahrain, we don’t have the discipline to be on time. It took four days to have everybody together at the training camp. That’s a problem the Indonesian team has had for a long time,” said Rijsbergen at Monday’s pre-match media conference.

“I have sought help from psychologists to change their mindset. Although it’s not easy to make the change in a couple of months, hopefully we can improve them,” he said.

Due to undisciplined attitudes, the top striker in last season’s Indonesia Super League, Boaz Salossa, and his Persipura Jayapura club teammate, Ricardo Salampessy, were both recently cut from the team ahead of the Qatar match.

Indonesia’s preparations peaked with a friendly match against a tough Saudi Arabian team in Malaysia last weekend, where Indonesia surprisingly held the Saudi team to a draw.

“The draw result with the Saudi team was good for their mentality,” said Rijsbergen, hoping for the recovery of injured players — defender Hamka Hamzah, Yongki Ariwibowo, Nasuha and goalie I Made Wirawan.

Hamka was confident, saying, “This is only a minor injury. I’ve been treated for the past two days and I’m 95 percent ready for next match.”

“We have to win to stay in the race. This is the only way to get confidence for the next matches against Qatar and [group leader] Iran in November,” Rijsbergen said. The last time Indonesia played Qatar was in the 2004 Asian Cup in China, where Indonesia won 2-1.

Qatar national coach Sebastiao Lazzaroni was confident in his team’s improving performance throughout the Group E qualifiers. “The Qatar national team, day by day, is improving. I’m sure Tuesday will be a tough game, but Qatar will play a very good game,” said Lazzaroni, citing the team’s training camp last week in Malaysia, where the Qataris annihilated the Malaysians 12-0.

In that friendly match, some of their defenders, including team captain Bilal Muhammed and Mushal Mubarak were injured, while Hamed Ismail accumulated yellow cards. Nonetheless, Lazzaroni said that the injured players had already recuperated and were ready to face the Indonesians.

“We need to win our first three points. [Tuesday’s] match is the most important game for us,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of reoccurrences of unflattering fan behavior such as throwing bottles and lighting firecrackers, as happened during the Bahrain match last month, Qatari defender Mesaad Ali A.M. Alhamad said, “Our team will be fighting against the Indonesian team, not against the spectators. Hopefully, that pressure will be on the host team, not us.”

The match kicks off at 7 p.m. at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium and will be guarded by 2,000 security officers. “We’ll place 400 security officers at the 12 gates of the stadium to perform body searches on spectators to prevent them from bringing in fireworks. A K9 squad will also be on patrol,” said Indonesian Soccer Association organizing committee coordinator Mursyid W.K. on Monday.

As many as 65,000 tickets have been available online at rajakarcis.com since Sunday and can also be purchased on the spot on Tuesday.