Newly appointed Indonesian national soccer team coach Patrick Kluivert speaks during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday, January 12, 2025. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
P
atrick Kluivert has promised some surprises from his Indonesia team when they take on Australia in Thursday's World Cup qualifier, despite only having had a couple of training sessions with his squad since taking over as coach in January.
The former Netherlands and Barcelona striker has been handed the mission of taking Indonesia to the World Cup finals for the first time since 1938 and Thursday's clash in Sydney could be crucial to those hopes.
With many of his players flying in from their clubs in Europe, Kluivert admitted that there had not been enough time to really impose his ideas on the squad but said he was confident they were ready to challenge for a first win over Australia since 1981.
"Changing is impossible at the moment," he told reporters at Sydney Football Stadium on Wednesday.
"But of course, there's things I don't just explain here, but there will be some, some things change, but that's between us.
"I think the team is ready. They know what we expect tomorrow, so we look forward to playing the match."
Kluivert took over a squad studded with players from the Indonesian diaspora, many of them Dutch-born and playing at a high level in Europe.
They impressed with a 0-0 draw against Australia as well as a 2-0 home win over Saudi Arabia last year and stand just a point behind the second-placed Socceroos in Group C. The top two teams will progress directly to the 2026 finals.
"I think we showed already the last year, maybe a little bit more, that Indonesia is a country that has to be dealt with," said Dutch-born captain Jay Idzes.
"Hopefully, and I truly believe it, in the next years we can really put Indonesia on the map."
Kluivert said he and his assistants, who include former Barcelona forward Jordi Cruyff, had not been idle since their appointments, travelling around Indonesia and spending time visiting their Europe-based players to "share their philosophy".
"I'm very happy about the quality that we have in the group. Everything can be better," Kluivert said.
"We didn't have many times to train, but I've still got a very good feeling about my team, about the players individually, and we will see tomorrow."
Idzes put paid to any suggestion that the players from the diaspora were not as emotionally invested in Indonesian football as local players.
"We speak between the players about what this game means to us, and I'm not expecting anything else than our absolute best tomorrow," said the Venezia centre half.
"It's really important that everybody understands that we're fighting and representing our country, 280 million people are on our backs. For me, personally, I don't feel the extra pressure. I just feel the extra support from everybody."
Australia's coach Tony Popovic admitted on Wednesday there will be a degree of unknown when his Australia side face an Indonesia team led for the first time by Kluivert.
"We've analysed Indonesia, we know there's a new coach, we don't know how he will set up," said the former Crystal Palace defender Popovic.
"Of course we've seen what he's done previously in various jobs he's been involved in in terms of the structure and shape that he plays.
"But we have to focus on us and know that we can deal with any structure that comes our way."
