The Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) have sent a letter of protest to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) concerning the officiating in Indonesia’s 2-2 draw against Bahrain last week in the third round of Asian qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
This was confirmed by PSSI chairman Erick Thohir in a post on his official social media account on Instagram. “PSSI formally submitted a letter of protest to the AFC to review a number of decisions in the match against Bahrain,” Thohir said. “It is part of the process of improving match quality at the Asian level.”
The referee for the game was Ahmed Abu Bakar Al Kaf of Oman.
The contest extended to nine minutes of second-half stoppage time. The fourth official had signalled from the sidelines that there would be a minimum of six. Bahrain scored their equalising goal through Mohammed Jassim Marhoon in the 99th minute. After the final whistle, a number of the visiting team members showed their outrage at the game’s developments, and security had to escort the refereeing team off the field.
Indonesia’s South Korean head coach Shin Tae-yong didn’t hold back in his post-game Press conference in voicing his discontent with the refereeing. “Regarding the added time, it should have been six minutes but it became more than nine minutes,” he said. “Then, the referee’s decisions I think were biased. “I think everyone can understand why our players are upset with those decisions.”
The fixture was the third in qualifying’s Group C for both teams. Bahrain salvaged a point and are now on four in fourth place behind Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, while Indonesia are fifth with three points, ahead of China.
Bahrain next play Saudi in Jeddah tomorrow, while the Indonseians have travelled to Qingdao to play their next match against the host Chinese. The Japanese and Aussies clash in the other divisional tie in Saitama.
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