European expert: 'Indonesia's World Cup goal is unrealistic'

Former assistant coach Alex Pastoor affirmed that Indonesia's goal to participate in the 2026 World Cup is impractical, as the team holds only the 119th position worldwide and lags significantly behind regional rivals.

After being dismissed by the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) alongside head coach Patrick Kluivert, former assistant coach Alex Pastoor openly shared with Dutch media about his brief tenure with the Indonesian national team and the reasons behind the failure in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

In an interview on the program Rondo broadcasted by Ziggo Sport, as cited by Voetbal International Pastoor expressed that he was not surprised by the termination of his contract after only nine months of work.

According to Pastoor, PSSI and the coaching staff initially agreed on three strategic objectives, with qualifying for the World Cup being the most important. However, he believes this goal is unrealistic considering Indonesia's current football status and capabilities.

“As I understand it, the agreement had three parts. Naturally, securing a spot in the World Cup would be fantastic. But being ranked 119th in the FIFA rankings makes it a challenging and unrealistic target, especially since our opponents like Saudi Arabia (ranked 59th) and Iraq (ranked 58th) are on a much higher level,” he revealed.

In reality, the Indonesian team failed to advance beyond the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers after losing 2-3 to Saudi Arabia and 0-1 to Iraq, officially ending their World Cup dream.

“Yes, we were unsuccessful, which became clear early on. On the field and during training, we tried our best to explain to the players what was expected of them. But that was still not enough to overcome teams at the level of Saudi Arabia or Iraq,” Pastoor said..

The Dutch coach also admitted he was not surprised by PSSI's swift decision.

“I am too familiar with the football world to be surprised by this. However, I think they are pursuing a longer-term project rather than focusing solely on qualifying for the World Cup. When the atmosphere started turning negative, the question was whether we could continue working under such conditions,”the Dutch strategist shared.

Pastoor also mentioned that the dismissal decision was made just a few days after the team returned from Jeddah. “They discussed for a few days, then announced that everything was over,” he added.

Alex Pastoor's comments are seen by experts as a warning to PSSI about setting expectations beyond their capacity. While Indonesian football is still evolving, aiming for the World Cup can be a long-term goal, but it must be built on sustainable development rather than short-term, overly ambitious projects.