Indonesia’s head coach Patrick Kluivert looks on prior to the World Cup 2026 Asian qualifier football match between Australia and Indonesia in Sydney on March 20, 2025. (AFP/Saeed Khan)
P
atrick Kluivert told his wounded Indonesia side they must learn from their embarrassing 6-0 thrashing by Japan as they attempt to reach the World Cup for the first time as an independent country.
Indonesia's dreams of appearing at their first finals since gaining independence in 1945 are still alive after they finished fourth in Asian qualifying Group C.
They join Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Asian champions Qatar in October's fourth qualifying round, with the draw to be made next month.
The winners of the two three-team groups will advance to next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Netherlands and Barcelona great Kluivert admitted that Group C winners Japan were "a size too big" for his team in Osaka on Tuesday.
"We need to learn from this big defeat," said the 48-year-old, who took over midway through the third qualifying round.
"We're very disappointed, of course, but we have to be prepared for the fourth round, and for me now the most important thing is to look back post-match, learn from it and look forward to the fourth round."
Indonesia were already guaranteed a place in the fourth round after beating China 1-0 in Jakarta last week.
They were outclassed by a Japan team who booked their World Cup place with three games to spare and ended the third round with 30 goals from 10 matches.
Kluivert was not helped by a first-half injury to forward Kevin Diks, whose replacement Yakob Sayuri was then substituted 15 minutes later after a clash of heads.
Kluivert said Japan were too good for Indonesia but they had to "admit this and carry on".
"We tried our best but it wasn't enough," he said.
"It was the quality of the players that Japan has in this team. We can talk a lot about it but that's the fact, that Japan was a size too big for us this evening."
