Indonesia vs Japan

Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium sets the stage for a ‘David vs Goliath’ 2026 FIFA World Cup clash between Indonesia and Japan.

Unable to reach the World Cup finals since their only appearance in 1938, Indonesia thought this could be their chance to return to the grandest stage, only to falter epically. Yet to win a single qualifier in Group B, Shin Tae-yong’s side slumped to a dreadful 2-1 defeat at China after drawing their opening three matches, including a scoreless stalemate against Australia in their only home outing this far. With fourth-placed China three points away, the margin for error is thin as the ‘Garuda Squad’ bid to pull off a massive upset and halt a two-game losing H2H run against Japan. However, a disastrous -7 goal difference from those two encounters (GF:1, GA:8) renders such hopes far-fetched.

In the meantime, Japan overhauled a second-half deficit in a dramatic 1-1 home draw against Australia last time out but still relinquished a perfect three-game start to their Group B campaign (W3, D1). However, the visitors will be confident of quickly returning to winning ways, especially considering each of their three victories at this qualifying stage came by 2+ goals ‘to nil.’ Despite netting a whopping 15 goals in their four Group B outings, only two of them arrived within the opening 15 minutes. Indeed, 11 of those 15 strikes came after the break, highlighting the potential for a goal-glutted second half.