REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia national team coach Shin Tae-yong said defender Kevin Diks may not necessarily strengthen his squad in the third round of 2026 World Cup qualifiers in November. But, he hopes the Copenhagen player will be able to defend the Garuda team soon.

Diks became the latest diaspora player that PSSI is trying to get Indonesian citizenship soon. But given the existence of a transition of government, it is likely that the process of naturalizing Diks cannot proceed quickly.

“Kevin Dicks can play in November or not that, I can't decide and don't know either because it's an administrative matter, so I don't understand. But personally, I hope Kevin Diks will be able to play in November,” Coach Shin said as quoted in an audio caption received by the broadcaster on Thursday (17/10/2024).

The Indonesian national team has just had two games of the third round of 2026 World Cup qualification, with a 2-2 draw against Bahrain and a 1-2 loss to China. Despite swallowing the bitter pill of being hit by the bamboo curtain team, Coach Shin judged the team's current atmosphere to be fine.

“The players don't mind (with the loss to China) and I myself am fine, but it is indeed bad at heart, and especially away against Bahrain yesterday it was probably a robbery,” coach Shin said.

“My own feeling is very difficult, especially yesterday against China lost 1-2 but we who controlled the match were actually arguably 75 per cent in control of the match, but there was just no luck for the goal. That's it and the first goal was the same, we should have won 2-0, before the game I thought it could be like that, with a small mistake we scored the first goal. So that's what made the match so difficult,” he added.

The Bahrain Football Federation (BFA) requested that the match against Indonesia be played at a neutral venue due to a number of threats to Indonesian citizens. When asked for comments, Coach Shin preferred to focus on his own upbringing team.

“If Bahrain comes to our home, we can definitely win. And he will be beaten, too, of course. Moreover, I am very confident in our players, so the fans can look forward to the match against Bahrain at home,” said the South Korean.

In both matches against Bahrain and China, the team was unable to strengthen Justin Hubner who was injured. Shin said the Wolverhampton player is also likely to be involved in two World Cup qualifying matches next November.

“Justin with an injury so he can't come, but November is actually the same, I mean even if his performance is back, but he is not yet normal because there needs to be recovery time, and the training portion is definitely still less so it remains to be seen later how the situation is,” said the former South Korean national coach.

“Preparation has to be good yes, but yes indeed the fact yes that Japan and Saudi Arabia are definitely above us in terms of achievements and FIFA rankings, so we have to prepare more perfect, better, we have to seek or get points,” he added.

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