Indonesia coach Patrick Kluivert admitted his side needed to make improvements after a 3-2 loss to Saudi Arabia in the fourth round of Asia’s preliminaries for the FIFA World Cup in Jeddah on Wednesday dented the nation’s hopes of a place at next year’s finals.
Defender Kevin Diks scored a pair of penalties for the Indonesians at a raucous King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, including giving the Merah Putih an 11th minute lead.
But Saleh Abu Al-Shammat levelled in the 17th minute before Feras Al-Brikan struck twice for the home side, netting a 36th minute penalty to put his team in front and then pouncing on a rebound in the 62nd minute to leave Diks’ 88th minute spot kick as a consolation.
“It’s a disappointing result, that’s football,” said Kluivert. “We started the game quite well and after leading 1-0, we lost it. It’s impossible to happen but it happened. I think we didn’t mark very well between the lines, so their wingers could come in on our defence.
“We couldn’t get the grip after the 1-0 and then we conceded easy goals. I’m very disappointed but we have still a game to play. (It was) 3-2, we played against a good team but we don’t put our heads down.”
Indonesia are attempting to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since the country gained independence from the Netherlands in 1949 and take on the Iraq on Saturday in their second match in Group B.
The winners of the three-team group will qualify automatically for the finals in the United States, Mexico and Canada next year, with the team finishing second advancing to a fifth round, where they will play home-and-away clashes against the runner-up from Group A.
“We play Iraq in three days, so now it’s time to analyse and to come back stronger because the game against Iraq we need to win,” said Kluivert. “That’s a fact.
“I want to say my players fought like lions, so it was nothing to do with that. But they made the wrong decisions sometimes.”
Diks gave Indonesia a dream start when he slammed his penalty past Nawaf Al-Aqidi after defender Hassan Al-Tambakhti had handled Dean James’ free kick in the penalty area but by the 17th minute, the Saudis were level.
Al-Shammat punished Indonesia’s slow midfield with a perfectly placed left-foot strike beyond goalkeeper Maarten Paes and by the 36th minute, the home side had gone in front through Al-Brikan’s penalty.
Yakub Sayuri pulled Al-Brikan’s shirt in the area and referee Ahmad Al-Ali awarded a spot-kick following a pitch-side review and the Al-Ahli forward smashed the ball home from 12 yards despite Paes going the right way.
Al-Brikan pounced to hit the decisive third 17 minutes into the second half, slamming in the rebound after Paes had done well to save a low strike from distance by Musab Al-Juwayr.
Indonesia were given a lifeline when Nawaf Bu Washl stumbled in his own penalty area under pressure from substitute Ole Romeny to concede another penalty as the ball struck him on the arm on the way down and Diks converted again with two minutes left.
Mohammed Kanno’s red card for two bookable offences moments later gave Indonesia added hope but the Saudis held on to pick up a win that boosts their hopes of a seventh FIFA World Cup appearance.
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