Jakarta. National football team coach Shin Tae-yong said he did not want to come up with an excuse to justify Indonesia’s huge loss to Japan at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers match on Friday evening. 

Indonesia suffered a 0-4 loss against Japan that evening. Dutch-born player Ragnar Oratmangoen had a one-on-one chance to score for Indonesia at the 8th minute, but got blocked by the Japanese goalkeeper Zion Suzuki. 

“We lost, so no excuse,” Shin told reporters after the match. 

Shin admitted that the Garudas were still “far behind” from the Japanese Samurai Blue in terms of skills. Shin said the results could have been different should Oratmangoen be able to hit the net early in the game. 

“The results are a bit of a shame. It’s not easy for the players to stay concentrated [for the entirety of] the game. If Ragnar [Oratmangoen] made the first goal, I’m not entirely sure, but the result could have changed. But yes, we are the losing team,” Shin said.

Likewise, Japanese team’s head coach Hajime Moriyasu said that Indonesia had a “very big chance” early on, referring to Oratmangoen’s  missed golden opportunity. 

“But our goalkeeper Suzuki made a magnificent save. I think that was a turning point for the game,” Moriyasu told the press that day.

Japan made the first point after Indonesia’s Justin Hubner scored an own goal at the 35th minute. The Samurai Blue’s Takumi Minamino gave the team the second goal at the 40th minute, followed by Hidemasa Morita (49”). Yukinara Sugawara scored the final goal at the 69th minute. 

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