Coach Kluivert complained after Indonesia lost the match

After losing to Saudi Arabia, coach Patrick Kluivert complained about the difficulties Indonesia faced when entering the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia.

Coach Patrick Kluivert directs during the match - Photo: REUTERS

In the early morning of October 9 (Vietnam time), Indonesia lost 2-3 to Saudi Arabia in the first match of Group B, stage 4 of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia.

With this defeat, Indonesia has almost no chance to compete for the top spot in the group - equivalent to an official ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

After the match, coach Kluivert complained to the Indonesian media about the difficulties his team faced, including the match schedule, location, physical conditions...

"I'm not the type of coach who likes to look for excuses, but unfortunately things happened like that," Bola quoted Mr. Kluivert.

"Some of my players had actually only arrived the day before, and that's not ideal to prepare well for such an important game.

But that's the truth. The truth is, when the players are playing abroad, we don't have enough time to train together. That's one of the challenges we always face," added the Dutch strategist.

Despite the complaints and hardships, it is fair to say that coach Kluivert and the Indonesian players fought with all their might. They really had a hard time playing on Saudi Arabia's field, and had fewer days to practice and gather than their opponents.

"But then again, I'm not someone who wants to hide behind things like that. If we had trained together as a team from the start of the qualifiers, maybe we could have achieved better results.

But again, I'm proud of the players and their efforts. Even the new players who came in gave their all. And I usually get very good feedback from them," he added.

Almost all of Saudi Arabia's players play in domestic leagues, so they have more time to practice than Indonesia - whose team will not fully gather until October 7.

Indonesia will continue to face Iraq at 2:30 a.m. on October 12, meaning they only have 3 days to rest, while Saudi Arabia has 6 days to rest before entering the next match.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hlv-kluivert-ke-kho-sau-khi-indonesia-thua-tran-2025100910301318.htm