Bahrain coach takes a dig at Indonesia's all-Dutch national team despite 300-million population

Overseas Indonesian players celebrate with local player Marselino Ferdinan (number 7) during the 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia at Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta in the 2026 World Cup third qualifying round on Nov. 19, 2024. Photo by AP

Indonesia are preparing to host Bahrain at Bung Karno Stadium in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday night.

The match is highly anticipated after the 2-2 draw in Riffa in October 2024, where Bahrain scored the final equalizer in the 90th+9 minute, despite the match having only six minutes of added time.

At a press conference on Monday, Talajic heated up the match by criticizing Indonesia’s naturalization policy, pointing out the influx of European players in the squad.

"I often watch Indonesia’s matches," the Croatian coach said. "Every time I watch, I see two or three new players. They don't play in Indonesia, they come from England or the Netherlands. There are no new players from Indonesia."

The current Indonesian squad have 17 out of 23 players who were born and raised abroad, most of whom have Indonesian roots from their grandparents. Naturalized center-back Jordi Amat, who has no Indonesian heritage, is also part of the team.

Coach Patrick Kluivert picked only five players who are native Indonesians, including third-choice goalkeeper Ernando Ari, center-back Rizky Ridho, midfielders Marselino Ferdinan and Ricky Kambuaya, and striker Ramadhan Sananta.

"Indonesia has a population of nearly 300 million, but they bring many players from the Netherlands," Talajic added. "But that's fine. There's no problem. We still respect our opponent."

As of 2024, Indonesia’s population is over 285 million according to Worldometers, and 78% of the current squad is made up of naturalized players. In their recent 1-5 defeat to Australia in Sydney, only Marselino Ferdinan, a native Indonesian, started in the match. During the pre-match meeting, it was noted that Ferdinan often turned his head away, possibly struggling to understand the conversation as his teammates spoke primarily in Dutch.

Despite the loss to Australia, Talajic stressed that Indonesia should not be underestimated.

"That defeat does not reflect Indonesia’s ability," said the 59-year-old coach. "I don’t care how Indonesia played in Sydney. We respect them, but we still came here to get three points."

Indonesia will welcome back center-back Justin Hubner and striker Ragnar Oratmangoen for the match against Bahrain, after both served suspensions.

A win for Kluivert’s team will keep their hopes of securing a spot at the 2026 World Cup alive, or at the very least, improve their chances of advancing to the fourth qualification round.