Many naturalized players, Indonesian women's team still shockingly lost in Asian qualifiers

Before the qualifying round of Group D of the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship, the Indonesian women's team naturalized a series of foreign players of Indonesian origin to strengthen their strength.

With the advantage of playing at home in the qualifying round of Group D and the aforementioned naturalized players, coach Satoru Mochizuki and his team not only aim to win a ticket to the final round of the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship but also aim for the 2027 World Cup.

In fact, the Indonesian women's team started the qualifying round of Group D quite smoothly when they defeated Kyrgyzstan 1-0. But in the second match that just ended on the evening of July 2, the Indonesian women's team disappointed when they lost 0-2 to Pakistan.

It is worth mentioning that this defeat shocked Indonesian women's football because Pakistan is 52 places below Indonesia in the FIFA rankings.

After two matches, the Indonesian women's team temporarily ranked third in Group D with 3 points, behind Chinese Taipei (6 points) and Pakistan (3 points). With this result, the chance of winning a ticket to the 2026 Asian Women's Football Championship is almost over for the Indonesian women's team.

In the final round, the Indonesian women's team will face Chinese Taipei - the strongest opponent in the group. To win a ticket to the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup, the Indonesian women's team must beat Chinese Taipei and wait for Pakistan to fail to get 3 points against Kyrgyzstan.

Even if they beat Chinese Taipei, Indonesia will still have a hard time advancing if Pakistan defeats Kyrgyzstan. In the Asian Women's Football Championship qualifiers, when teams are level on points, head-to-head results are taken into account first.

Chinese Taipei beat Pakistan 7-0 while Indonesia lost to Pakistan 0-2. If we consider the direct confrontation between the three teams, Indonesia has almost no chance of getting a ticket to the next round.