Key events
Australia XI
Graham Arnold has made clear that he’s looking for a reaction in Jakarta and the Australia coach is the first to respond to the troubling defeat to Bahrain by naming a lively starting XI.
Wunderkind Nestory Irankunda starts against Indonesia after showing promising signs when coming off the bench against Bahrain, while Sammy Silvera has a huge opportunity to impress and should offer a spark with his blistering pace. It isn’t quite all-out attack but Australia need to test the opposition more than they did against Bahrain, and have again named Craig Goodwin – one of the better performers last week – with a recall for veteran forward Mitch Duke.
Keanu Baccus returns to bolster the midfield alongside Jackson Irvine, while the defence has a familiar look although many had hoped Alessandro Circati would be given time to settle next to Harry Souttar at centre-back. Cam Burgess is also back.
Kye Rowles, Aiden O’Neill, Connor Metcalfe, Martin Boyle and the suspended Kusini Yengi are the five to make way from the starting XI against Bahrain.
Socceroos XI: Maty Ryan (GK, capt), Alessandro Circati, Harry Souttar, Cam Burgess, Aziz Behich, Keanu Baccus, Jackson Irvine, Sammy Silvera, Craig Goodwin, Nestory Irankunda, Mitch Duke
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Socceroos’ clash with Indonesia as part of the Asian third round qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Australia will be out to kickstart their campaign in this qualification phase in Jakarta, after they could hardly have got off to a worse start with a shock 1-0 defeat to Bahrain on home soil last week.
The Socceroos enjoyed 70% possession in that match on the Gold Coast but it was an all too familiar story as the hosts lacked enough creative ideas let alone a cutting edge, even if it was still something of a surprise when Bahrain wrote their own fairytale finish with an 89th-minute own goal off Harry Souttar’s outstretched boot. Forward Kusini Yengi was shown a straight red for a high foot earlier in the second half against Bahrain and will be missing from this encounter with Indonesia, perhaps forcing coach Graham Arnold’s hand to introduce fresh blood to his starting XI (more on that shortly).
Australia need an instant reaction with little room for further error after Japan walloped China 7-0 in their opener to take pole position in Group C, while Indonesia impressed with a 1-1 draw in Saudi Arabia. The top two teams in the group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup, while the third, fourth and perhaps even fifth-place finishers will take a much longer, nervy route.
Teams are in and will be listed here post haste, with some exciting news for Socceroos fans.
Kick off is 10pm AEST / 7pm local time at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Let’s get into it!