Indonesia uses 90% 'Dutch-ized' squad for the first time

The Indonesian national team is gradually becoming a European version with a squad consisting mostly of players born in the Netherlands - with or without Southeast Asian roots. The match against Australia yesterday, March 20, in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers was the first time the archipelago team took the field with 10/11 naturalized players.

Midfielder Marselino Ferdinan is the only player in the Indonesian national team squad who is a native (born in Indonesia, with both Indonesian parents). All the remaining players in the starting lineup of this team are players born in the Netherlands and have only been naturalized in the last 2 years.

Marselino Ferdinan was the only native Indonesian player to start against Australia.

As the influx of European players of Indonesian descent continues to flood into the national team, the opportunities for local stars are getting narrower. Starting from the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, the Indonesian team has more than enough European-born players and positions to form a separate squad.

However, under coach Shin Tae-yong, the Indonesian team still has about 2-3 native players starting in matches. The pillars of the Indonesian team in the previous period such as Rizky Ridho, Asnawi Mangkualam... are still occasionally included in the list of 11 players starting the field.

Earlier this year, Indonesia fired coach Shin Tae-yong and appointed former Dutch player Patrick Kluivert as his replacement. The new Indonesian "captain" took a step further in the process of "Dutchifying" the team by using a squad with 10 players of Dutch origin in the match against Australia. Of the 5 players who entered the field in the second half, only 2 were native players: Ridho and Sananta (replacing Ferdinan).

In this match, the team from the archipelago dominated the ball control and created many opportunities. However, the Southeast Asian representative lost 1-5. After the match, President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) Erick Thohir announced that he would continue the strategy of building the national team with players born in Europe.

Meanwhile, coach Kluivert faced a wave of criticism from the media in the archipelago.

"I think Kluivert also seemed too confident, he asked his players to play offensively right from the start of the match," legend Agung Setyabudi - former captain of the Indonesian team from 1993-2004 commented after the match.

Former player Agung Setyabudi commented: " The Indonesian national team played very openly, as if they were too confident in constantly attacking, and their defense also became vulnerable. Meanwhile, Australia defended more, relying on counter-attacks but was effective when scoring 5 goals.

In fact, the coach has his own strategy and tactics. Here we can see that gaps appear continuously in the home field, being too comfortable in attacking makes the Indonesian team's defense ability decrease ".

Mai Phuong

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/indonesia-lan-dau-tien-su-dung-doi-hinh-ha-lan-hoa-90-ar932891.html