Indonesia v Australia: 2026 World Cup Qualifying – Live | 2026 World Cup Qualifying

Marselino Ferdinan and Justin Hubner will start in the team that drew 1-1 in Saudi Arabia, with Witan Sulaeman and Thom Haye making the bench. A 3-4-3 formation seems likely.

Indonesia XI: Maarten Vincent Paes (GK), Calvin Verdonk, Jay Noah Idzes (captain), Rizky Ridho Ramadhani, Sandy Walsh, Marselino Ferdinan, Rafael William Struick, Ragnar Oratmangoen, Ivar Jenner, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Justin Hubner

Graham Arnold has made it clear he is hoping for a reaction in Jakarta and the Australian coach is the first to respond to the shock defeat to Bahrain by fielding an energetic starting line-up.

Child prodigy Nestory Irannunda begins against Indonesia after showing promising signs when coming off the bench against Bahrain, while Sammy Silvera has a huge chance to impress and should provide a spark with his blistering pace. It’s not quite an all-out attack, but Australia need to test their opponents more than they did against Bahrain, and have re-instated Craig Goodwin – one of last week’s better players – with a call-up for experienced forward Mitch Duke.

Keanu Baccus returns to bolster midfield alongside Jackson Irvine, while the defence looks familiar, although many had hoped Alessandro Circati would be given time to establish himself alongside Harry Souttar at centre-back. Cam Burgess is also back.

Kye Rowles, Aiden O’Neill, Connor Metcalfe, Martin Boyle and the suspended Kusini Yengi are the five players who will be out of action against Bahrain.

Socceroos XI: Maty Ryan (GK, captain), Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, Cam Burgess, Aziz Behich, Keanu Baccus, Jackson Irvine, Sammy Silvera, Craig Goodwin, Nestory Irankunda, Mitch Duke

Preamble

Martin Pegan

Hello and welcome to the live broadcast of the Socceroos match against Indonesia as part of the Asian third round qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Australia will be looking to get their campaign underway in Jakarta in this qualifying phase, having made a bad start with a shock 1-0 defeat to Bahrain on home soil last week.

The Socceroos had 70% possession in that game on the Gold Coast, but it was an all-too-familiar story as the hosts failed to generate enough creative ideas, let alone take a lead, although it was still a surprise when Bahrain scripted their own fairytale ending with an 89th-minute own goal from Harry Souttar’s extended boot. Striker Kusini Yengi was shown a red card for a high foot earlier in the second half against Bahrain and will be absent from this meeting with Indonesia, perhaps forcing coach Graham Arnold to inject some fresh blood into his starting XI (more on that later).

Australia will need an instant response with little room for error after Japan thrashed China 7-0 in their opening match to take pole position in Group C, while Indonesia impressed with a 1-1 draw in Saudi Arabia. The top two teams in the group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup, while third, fourth and possibly even fifth place will face a much longer, nail-biting route.

The teams have been announced and will be listed here as soon as possible. We also have some exciting news for Socceroos fans.

Kick-off is 22:00 AEST / 19:00 local time at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Let’s get started!