Chinese media panics after ignoring Indonesian national team

VIVA – China will host Indonesia in the fourth match of Group “C” of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying round in the Asian region.

The match will be held at the Qingdao Youth Football Stadium on October 15.

Even though China is the host, it is considered difficult to beat the Indonesian team.

This is because the strength of the Indonesian national team is increasing with the arrival of new naturalized players.

In the first two matches, the Indonesian national team also demonstrated its strength by surprising the two teams selected for the World Cup.

Garuda managed to score points at home against Saudi Arabia and face Australia at the Gelora Bung Karno (SUGBK) main stadium, Jakarta.

Then, in the match against China, the Indonesian team will probably also have two more players: Eliano Reynders and Miss Hilgers.

This is what local Chinese media predict: it will be difficult for their country to win.

“Indonesia, which tied with Saudi Arabia and Australia, is expected to strengthen further (with the arrival of Eliano and Mies),” NetsEase reported.

“It will be difficult for the Chinese national team to achieve such a victory against Indonesia,” the report continued.

The statement before the qualifiers was quite different. Chinese media outlet Sohu ignored the Indonesian team and pointed to two victories.

“It is difficult to compare China with a team like Indonesia. If China wants to qualify for the World Cup, they need to win two games against Indonesia,” Sohu wrote.

Sohu felt that the Chinese national team had the advantage by looking at the statistics of the two teams’ 17 matches.

The Dragon team successfully won 11 games and tied three times.

“China has been invincible against Indonesia for a long time. Therefore, they have a psychological advantage and because they have a strong will to qualify for the World Cup, China will not easily let go of a weak team like them,” the article concludes.