The Indonesian national team received bad news ahead of the away match against Bahrain after main goalkeeper Maarten Paes suffered an injury, its bad news recently Maarten Paes not including in starting line up for his team when FC Dallas facing San Jose on MLS League match.
This is really bad news for Indonesia. In the previous two matches Maarten Paes was the Man of the Match. He is a very good goalkeeper who made Indonesia's defense very solid. Indonesia managed to get points from 2 strong teams in Asia. The match against Bahrain will not be as difficult as the previous matches but without Maarten Paes I think Indonesia's defense becomes very fragile. I am not underestimating their second goalkeeper but honestly the quality of Maarten Paes is very far compared to Indonesia's second or third goalkeeper at the moment. There is news that Maarten Paes is still included in the Indonesian squad and I hope he can appear against Bahrain to give Indonesia a chance to win the match.
This will be an unforgettable match for the Indonesian national team, two matches that will become history for Indonesia, one of the players who will be Man of the Match should be Maarten Paes. Currently, Indonesia still needs a goalkeeper like Maarten Paes to guard the goal. He has been recognized as a very great goalkeeper for Indonesia in the first team.
With Maarten Paes, Indonesia has the opportunity to win in the next match against a team from another country which has many star football players in Asia. , I also have doubts about the other Indonesian goalkeepers, they are also very great at playing for Indonesia.
Marteen Paes is the figure behind Indonesia's positive results in the previous 2 matches, the first was when they were able to hold Saudi Arabia to a draw at their home base and the second was when Indonesia managed to hold Australia to a draw. The reason is that in terms of level, Indonesia is far below the two countries, especially if we look at the FIFA ranking, Indonesia is the lowest ranked country in the group and even in Round 3 of the Asian zone.
I heard that it was a minor injury suffered by Marteen Paes, so he is still possible to be fielded in 2 matches. However, Indonesia will also add new strength with the presence of Mees Hilgers and will also be strengthened by Eliano Reijnders.