OFFICIAL: Indonesia national team receives great news from FIFA, Vietnam must be cautious

The stunning win against Oman propelled Indonesia up the FIFA rankings, greatly reducing the distance to Vietnam's national team.

Within the framework of the FIFA Matchday series, the Indonesian national team created a major surprise when they hosted Oman at the Gelora Bung Karno home stadium. Before the match, Oman (ranked 79th) was considered far superior to the hosts (ranked 122nd). However, the 43-place gap in the rankings was completely erased by the brilliant performance of coach John Herdman's players.

In the first half, Indonesia pressed their opponents and took a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Justin Hubner in the 13th minute and Ole Romeny in the 27th minute. The turning point came in the 37th minute when Oman was awarded a penalty.

However, goalkeeper Emil Audero shone brightly with a superb save from Nasser Sultan's (Hatem Al Rushadi) penalty, preserving the advantage for his team. In the second half, Ragnar Oratmangoen scored to seal an emphatic 3-0 victory in the 56th minute, concluding a perfect performance for the representatives of the archipelago.

The win over a much higher-ranked opponent brought a huge points advantage for Indonesia in the FIFA ranking calculations. The archipelago's team was awarded approximately 6.56 points, raising their total to 1,151.45 points. With this accumulated score, Indonesia officially climbed four places, moving from 122nd to 118th in the world, surpassing four other teams: Togo, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and North Korea.

This achievement further solidifies Indonesia's third place among Southeast Asian nations with the highest FIFA rankings in history. Currently, they have closed in and reduced the gap with the region's leading teams, Thailand and Vietnam. In this international window, Thailand dropped one spot to 94th after a 2-2 draw with Kuwait. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese team remains steady at 99th in the world and did not play any friendlies this time to make way for domestic tournaments.

Behind them, Indonesia has left far behind the Philippines (135th) and Malaysia (137th). In contrast to Indonesia's rise, Singapore received a cold shower as they dropped two places to 149th in the world after a 1-2 loss to China. The historic victory over Oman not only brought points but also a huge spiritual boost for Indonesian football in the future.