The Saudi national team lost by two unanswered goals to its host, the Indonesian national team, in the match that brought together the two teams this evening, Tuesday, in the sixth round of the final qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

With this result, the Saudi team’s balance froze at 6 points, falling to fourth place, while the Indonesian team rose to third place. 

Marcelo Verdinan scored a double for the Indonesian team in the 32nd and 57th minutes.

The Indonesian team surprised its Saudi guest, and threw its attacking weight from the beginning of the match. Marcelo Verdinan almost gave the lead to the Indonesian team in the first seconds of the start of the match, when he passed Al-Kassar, but the goalkeeper responded to his shot. 

The Indonesian team took advantage of the confusion in the Al-Akhdar defense, and launched a sweeping attack on Al-Kassar’s goal, which succeeded in blocking successive shots by the Indonesian team players in the fifth minute. 

In the eighth minute, Calvin Verdonk took advantage of the poor coverage of the Saudi national team's defence, and went one-on-one with goalkeeper Ahmed Al-Kassar, who in turn succeeded in saving his goal from an achieved goal. 

The 19th minute witnessed the first reaction by the Saudi team, when Muhammad Al-Qahtani sent a cross to the head of his teammate Firas Al-Braikan, but his header went over the crossbar. 

After that, Al-Ahdr players asked the match referee to expel Justin Hooper, due to his violent intervention on Al-Qahtani, but the referee contented himself with giving him the yellow card after returning to video technology. 

In the 32nd minute, the Indonesian team launched a quick counterattack, and Marcelino Ferdinand was saved by a cross ball that he shot strongly towards Al-Kassar, who contented himself with watching it hit his net. 

The Saudi national team then tried to regain the result of the match before the end of the first half, but failed to reach the Indonesian national team’s goal, with the exception of a timid attempt from Firas Al-Braikan in stoppage time that posed a threat to Martin Vincent’s goal. 

At the beginning of the second half, Al-Ahdhar coach Herve Renard brought in Abdullah Al-Hamdan instead of Muhammad Al-Qahtani, trying to increase the attacking intensity. 

At the 57th minute, Marcelino Ferdinand returned and scored a second goal for the Indonesian team, taking advantage of the poor coverage of the Saudi team's defense. 

The Saudi team threw its weight towards the attack, trying to recover the result of the match, but the Indonesian defense was an impenetrable bulwark against Al-Akhdar’s attack attempts. 

Abdullah Al-Hamdan almost closed the gap in the 71st minute, after receiving a cross from his colleague Musab Al-Jawir, but the goalkeeper succeeded in blocking his header. 

Minutes before the end of the match, the match referee gave the red card to Indonesian national team player Justin Huebner, after he received a second warning