Indonesian fans react to coach Kluivert: The decision is too risky for the 2026 World Cup opportunity

According to CNN Indonesia, fans in this country have had mixed reactions to coach Kluivert's decision to call up 28 players to prepare for the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia in October.

Where is Indonesian football hero Marselino Ferdinan?

The absence of 21-year-old star striker Marselino Ferdinan has become a hot topic of controversy in Indonesian football over the past two days, after coach Kluivert shockingly removed this player from the 28-player list for the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.

Coach Kluivert was criticized by Indonesian fans for dropping his favorite player Marselino Ferdinan.

Photo: Reuters

"Where is Marselino Ferdinan?", one Indonesian social media user asked. According to CNN Indonesia, this is a typical question among thousands of other questions that fans of this country have asked in the comment section of the Indonesian team's Instagram post.

"There were at least three reactions to Coach Kluivert's call-up this time. These three reactions asked why Marselino Ferdinan, Ivar Jenner and Rafael Struick were not called up. But most of the Indonesian fans asked about their favorite player, Marselino Ferdinan, who became an icon after scoring a double to help the home team beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia in November 2024," CNN Indonesia said.

"Why wasn't Lino (Marselino Ferdinan's nickname) called up? He could have made a difference by playing much better than Stefano Lilipaly and Marc Klok (2 naturalized players of Dutch origin who are 35 and 32 years old respectively)," a fan emphasized.

Marselino Ferdinan's exclusion from the Indonesian national team also became a topic of discussion and entered the top 20 most prominent events on social network X, according to CNN Indonesia.

Marselino Ferdinan is a talented player and the biggest bright spot of Indonesian football today, before the massive naturalization storm.

Photo: Phuc Thang

However, many other Indonesian fans expressed sympathy for coach Kluivert because of his caution in calling up experienced players and meeting current requirements.

Failure in the fourth qualifying round of the Asian region means losing all chances of participating in the 2026 World Cup, which will be a huge price to pay, which is the possibility of coach Kluivert being fired immediately. Therefore, this Dutch strategist is calculating the personnel in a way that ensures, at least there is still a chance in the play-off round, CNN Indonesia shared more.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) explained the reason why coach Kluivert did not call up Marselino Ferdinan, is because this player is in the process of recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered in the match against Lebanon (0-0 draw on September 8). Meanwhile, Mees Hilgers is having problems at FC Twente so he needs time to settle his contract. With Ivar Jenner and Rafael Struick also in the process of recovering from injuries.

However, the fact that coach Kluivert still called up striker Ole Romeny is considered a somewhat forced case. Ole Romeny suffered an injury more serious than Marselino Ferdinan, had to undergo surgery and has just returned to training separately, has not had any training session with his teammates at Oxford United Club.

"Ole Romeny is certainly not ready to play, but he is still named as a very risky part of Coach Kluivert. If successful in the fourth qualifying round, the decisions of this coach will be accepted. But on the contrary, it will be a huge storm of criticism, especially the absence of Indonesian football hero Marselino Ferdinan", CNN Indonesia emphasized.

Coincidentally, in the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, the Indonesian team in Group B will meet Saudi Arabia again in the opening match at 0:15 on October 9, and then the match against Iraq at 2:30 on October 12 (both Vietnam time). Only the top team will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, if the second team has to go through the play-off round. The bottom team will be eliminated.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cdv-indonesia-phan-ung-hlv-kluivert-quyet-dinh-qua-mao-hiem-voi-co-hoi-world-cup-2026-185250926095416341.htm