SOCCER: New boss Herdman calls on Indonesia to harness past disappointments

JAKARTA – New Indonesia head coach John Herdman is urging the national team to turn past disappointments into motivation as they aim for their first World Cup appearance and regional success.

Herdman was officially named as Patrick Kluivert’s successor on Monday after the Dutch coach left following Indonesia’s failed bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Indonesia reached the fourth round of Asia’s qualifiers last year for the first time, relying heavily on players born overseas. Herdman said that experience provides a strong foundation for future growth.

“I’m sure the fans want to be at the World Cup in 2026, but you have to suffer, you have to feel it,” Herdman said after the draw for the ASEAN Championship group stages on Thursday.

“This was a new group of Indonesian players trying to come together quickly. The talent is there, but it takes time to connect. Those defeats are what create the foundation for the future. We have no excuses now. We’ve suffered together, the talent’s there, and we have the opportunity to take this country to the next level.”

Herdman will lead his first matches in March during the FIFA Series in Jakarta. Later, the team will aim to win the ASEAN Championship for the first time in the competition’s 30-year history this July and August.

The 50-year-old English coach, who guided Canada to the 2022 World Cup, will also prepare Indonesia for the 2027 Asian Cup finals in Saudi Arabia, hoping to build on the team’s best run to the last 16 in the previous edition in Qatar.

“That pressure is a privilege for the players, but it’s also a challenge,” Herdman said, referring to expectations from Indonesia’s football-mad population of 280 million.

“The mentality we’re building is a pioneering mindset. We haven’t qualified for a World Cup, we haven’t won an Asian Cup, and we haven’t won an ASEAN Cup. We have a chance to achieve all of those things. That’s the mindset. That’s the privilege.”

-Reporting by Michael Church; Editing by Peter Rutherford/Reuters