The biggest threat to the Indonesian national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is not Qatar

The Shiro Corporation - JAKARTA - Indonesia National Team Together with five other countries, they have confirmed their participation in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup Asian qualifiers.

The four countries are the United Arab Emirates and Qatar representing Group A, Iraq and Oman from Group B, as well as Saudi Arabia which comes from Group C.

Former coach of the Indonesian national team Rahmad Darmawan describing Iraq as the biggest threat to the Garuda team in the fourth round of World Cup 2026 qualifiers on October 8-14.

According to the coach, who is commonly called RD, Iraq is the country he is most wary of because it has a playing style different from the other Middle Eastern countries that have reached the fourth round; Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Oman.

"Iraq may be somewhat disruptive. The characteristics of Iraqi players are different from other Arabs. Iraq is more like a Persian country, so they have a stronger, bigger build, similar to Germans, because they indeed have very close ties with Germany in football matters," RD told ANTARA at the ANTARA Heritage Center in Central Jakarta on Tuesday (17/6).

The Indonesian national team has always lost in their last three encounters with Iraq, including at the Main Stadium of Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta.

Indonesia and Iraq have met three times since November 2023. These encounters took place during the second round of qualification for the 2026 World Cup (twice) and the group stage of the 2023 Asian Cup.

In these three meetings, besides losing, Indonesia has only managed to score twice against Mesopotamia Lion, while conceding 10 goals.

"Actually, this is somewhat easy for me to hope that we are not in the same group as Iraq. But if we have to be in the same group, what can we do?," said the coach who was born in Lampung.

Regarding Indonesia's chances in the fourth round, RD assesses that the team under Patrick Kluivert's tutelage has a good chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

This, he said, is because the Indonesian team has strong backing as they have never lost to Middle Eastern teams that they have faced in the third round, namely Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Indonesia drew both matches when playing away, and then won with a clean sheet, namely 2-0 (Saudi Arabia) and 1-0 (Bahrain) when playing in Jakarta.

However, if I were to say about our chances (for the Indonesian National Team), I would say that we have an opportunity and yes, our chance is quite big, because our strength is very solid,

AFC has announced that the fourth round will be played in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Six teams of participants are divided into two groups, with three teams in each group. The winners of each group will automatically receive tickets to the 2026 World Cup.

The draw for the fourth round will be held on July 17th. (antara/jpnn)