International football returns this week as several ASEAN sides get set to take to the pitch with the ASEAN Mitsubishi Electric Cup™ now less than two months away.
Indonesia will resume their FIFA World Cup Qualifiers campaign with a pair of crucial away trips coming up after impressive draws against continental heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Australia opened their account last month.
Thailand and Philippines square off in the annual King's Cup, Vietnam host India, Malaysia travel to New Zealand while Cambodia and Myanmar will also feature in several exciting matches in this month’s FIFA international window.
Indonesia are featuring in the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for the very first time and started with a superb 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah with Sandy Walsh scoring for Team Garuda but it was debutant goalkeeper Maarten Paes who stole the show.
The 26-year-old FC Dallas shot-stopper kept out Salem Al Dawsari’s penalty before keeping a clean sheet in a goalless draw just five days later at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta against Australia as Indonesia picked up two points from two difficult fixtures.
Next up for Shin Tae-yong’s side are a couple of away trips, firstly on October 10 in Riffa against Bahrain, who themselves defeated Australia away from home, followed by travelling to Qingdao to take on bottom-of-the-table China PR on October 15.
Ahead of their Group C fixtures, Indonesia have two new faces in their squad as Dutch Eredivisie duo Eliano Reijnders, who is the brother of AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, and Mees Hilgers have joined with the latter having recently played the full 90 minutes for his club FC Twente against Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League.
Thailand will take to the pitch in the 50th edition of the King's Cup when they face fellow Southeast Asian side Philippines on October 11 in Songkhla.
Syria and Tajikistan will face off in the other semi-final, with the final scheduled for October 14. The War Elephants had lost to Iraq on penalties in last year's final which was held in Chiang Mai.
Meanwhile, Vietnam are set to continue their preparatiions for the Mitsubishi Electric Cup as they aim to reclaim the regional crown they last won in 2018.
Kim Sang-sik’s side will next come up against India at Thien Truong Stadium, the home of the reigning V.League 1 champions Nam Dinh FC, on October 12.
This will be the fourth meeting between the two sides with all three previous fixtures also being friendlies and the Golden Star Warriors having a slight 2-1 edge after a 3-0 win against the South Asians in their most recent fixture two years ago in Ho Chi Minh City.
Malaysia will face a very different kind of challenge on October 14 when they make the long trip to New Zealand on the back of winning the Pestabola Merdeka at home last month.
The venue for the fixture will be North Harbour Stadium, the headquarters and training base of new A-League club Auckland FC, with the All Whites to be captained by Nottingham Forest forward Chris Wood who was on target in a 1-1 draw in the Premier League against Chelsea in the past weekend.
After the disappointment of being knocked out by Sri Lanka in the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers, Cambodia will be managed by interim head coaches Koji Gyotoku and Yoshimi Hamasaki when they host Chinese Taipei on October 11 at the National Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh.
Four days later, the Koupreys will travel to Hong Kong to take on a Hong Kong, China team who themselves have a new man at the helm in Ashley Westwood as he gets set to lead the team out in a home fixture for the first time.
And finally, Myanmar will return to action for the first time in four months in a pair of friendlies against Sri Lanka in Yangon on October 10 and 13.
Photo: Timnas Indonesia
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