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Indonesia secures 1-0 victory over Bahrain
Indonesia will need to secure at least another victory in the next matches against China and Japan to pass to the next round of the World Cup qualifiers.
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Indonesia's Ole Romeny (center) celebrates scoring their first goal with Ragnar Oratmangoen (right) and Marselino Ferdinan during the World Cup 2026 Asian qualifier football match between Indonesia and Bahrain at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on March 25, 2025. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
Indonesia revived its World Cup dream with a 1-0 win over Bahrain on Tuesday night after a devastating lost from Australia.
Oxford United forward Ole Romeny scored his second goal in as many games to give Netherlands and Barcelona great Patrick Kluivert his first victory since becoming manager.
“After the match in Australia, many were disappointed and we indeed didn’t play well […] we have risen [from the lost] in front our fans. This is something special,” said Kluivert after the match at the Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Jakarta.
With the victory over Bahrain, Indonesia moved into fourth place in Group C, one of the three Asian groups in the World Cup Asian qualifiers, with nine points, and still clinches a chance to go to the finals in 2026.
The qualifying system allows the top two go straight to the finals, with teams finishing third and fourth in the Asian groups entering a further round of qualifying.
Indonesia will need to secure at least another victory in the next matches against Japan and China to pass to the next round of the qualifiers. The team will host China at the stadium in Jakarta on June 5 and will travel to Japan in June 10 for their final qualifiers.
Australia crushed Indonesia 5-1 in front of a home crowd at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney last week.
In other matches on Tuesday, Australia beat China 2-0 to boost their chances of automatic qualification, but Saudi Arabia stayed in touch in Group C with a goalless draw in Japan.
Australia's victory, courtesy of first-half goals from Jackson Irvine and Nishan Velupillay, left the Socceroos second in Group C on 13 points with two to play, three points ahead of Saudi Arabia with a much better goal difference. Japan are already sure to finish top.
