NEW! Find where to watch all of your favorite sports!
While they may not boast the same stature as current continental heavyweights such as Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia, Indonesia were actually the first Asian team to feature at a FIFA World Cup — back in 1938 when they were still known as the Dutch East Indies.
Since then, they have not come remotely close to reappearing on the biggest stage the sport has to offer.
But ahead of the 2026 edition, Indonesia have currently gone further than they ever have in the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup — and their results in the third round thus far have arguably surpassed all expectations.
After three games, the Indonesians remain unbeaten having recorded impressive draws against two powerhouses in Saudi Arabia and Australia, as well as with Bahrain last Thursday.
While they probably would have originally satisfied with three points from their opening three outings, the fact that they have shown they can match it with the continent’s elite might have resulted in a realignment of their targets for the campaign.
They could easily have picked up a win against Bahrain after coming from behind to lead 2-1 — only to be denied by a 99th-minute equaliser which led to an uproar in the Indonesian camp over the amount of injury-time that added on.
Yet, perhaps Southeast Asia’s sole representatives in the third round of Asian qualifiers will not have to wait much longer to claim a historic first win at this stage.
On Tuesday, they lock horns with another familiar name of Asian football: China.
This is not the same China that reached the World Cup in 2002. Nor is it the same China that made it to the final four in six out of eight editions of the AFC Asian Cup from 1976 to 2004.
China, who were once as high as 37th in the FIFA world rankings, are now 91st. They were 79th just a year ago.
In the previous round of Asian qualifiers, they were held to draws by similar Southeast Asian opposition in Thailand and Singapore and only scrapped through via goal difference.
Since then, they have been thrashed 7-0 by Japan, threw away a lead to lose 2-1 to Saudi Arabia despite playing over 70 minutes with a numerical advantage, and were beaten 3-1 by an Australian outfit also struggling and in their first match with new coach Tony Popovic at the helm.
Even on paper, perhaps this is not a match that China will be favourites for — even if they still sit significantly higher than Indonesia’s world ranking of 129th.
A main factor is the fact that Indonesia have been bolstered considerably by the continuous arrivals of overseas-born players of local heritage who have committed to representing Merah Putih.
Jay Idzes, playing in Serie A with Venezia, has been a huge presence in defence and is already captaining the team despite having just six caps to his name.
On debut last month, FC Dallas goalkeeper Maartens Paes produced an inspired display to help Indonesia draw with Saudi Arabia.
Just last week, Eliano Reijnders — younger brother of AC Milan and Netherlands star Tijjani — and fellow Eredivisie man Mees Hilgers became the latest to don the Indonesia jersey.
Indonesia currently have ten players plying their trade in Europe, and even more in notable nations such as United States, South Korea and Australia. China have none, with their entire squad based in the Chinese Super League.
Despite their recent poor form, the Chinese will not be pushovers. They still boast plenty of individual quality even with talismanic skipper Wu Lei missing through injury, and they did show more signs of life last week even if they did lose to the Socceroos.
Still, Indonesia are rising — and they’re rising fast.
Apart from next June, when they host the same opposition in their intimidating 77,193 capacity homeground that is Gelora Bung Karno, Tuesday’s trip to Qingdao looms as the best chance for Indonesia to pick up a historic first win in the third round of Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.
