JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard said losing to Indonesia in Jakarta last year had been the spur to make the changes required to his squad that led them to seal a crucial victory over Patrick Kluivert’s side on Wednesday.
The Saudis moved a step closer to automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup with a 3-2 victory over Indonesia in Jeddah as a new-look side avenged November’s 2-0 defeat to move to the top of Group B of qualifying.
The winners of the three-team group will progress directly to the finals in North America while the second placed finishers will advance to a further round of qualifying.
“We know Indonesia is a good team, so we prepared for this game very well,” said Renard. “We also had revenge to take because we were very bad when we went to their home ground.
“It was our fault, they put us under pressure and we didn’t manage to support the pressure. But it was also after this game I made some very important decisions, so maybe it was a good sign.”
One of Renard’s newest recruits, 23-year-old Saleh Abu Al-Shamat, scored Saudi Arabia’s equalizer on his second international appearance after Kevin Diks had put Indonesia ahead from the penalty spot.
Feras Al-Buraikan scored twice more for the Saudis before another Diks penalty late in the game briefly gave the Indonesians hope of salvaging a point.
Indonesia will next take on Iraq on Saturday before the Saudis face their Gulf neighbors on Tuesday with a World Cup place alongside Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan and Jordan at stake.
“One World Cup in your football career is something you can’t miss, so everyone wants to go to the World Cup,” said Renard.
“Nobody will give us anything. We will have to fight up to the last second. It won’t be easy, the next game. We know it. It will, maybe, be more difficult but we are going to fight and we know also what we want. This is the most important thing.
“We stay concentrated, focus on ourselves and of course we will watch the game between Indonesia and Iraq. It will also be a tough game. Iraq are a good team, fighting a lot, playing well.
“This group is not finished. We have to do it by ourselves.”
