There’s a simple change of scenery, and then there’s John Herdman’s latest coaching move.
The 50-year-old has taken quite a jump from Canada, a huge country where soccer is not the biggest sport, to Indonesia, a huge country where it definitely is. If he can repeat his 2022 heroics for 2030, he will be a hero to a nation of 280 million people who are just desperate to return to the global stage. Canada had a gap of 36 years between their first and second World Cup appearances. If the new coach in Jakarta is successful next time, then what will be a 92-year wait would come to an end.
It’s hard to think of more contrasting football environments. When Herdman first takes the field at the iconic Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, he will see 80,000 red-clad fans, hear their songs and smell the humid Jakarta air – even if, with a metropolitan area of about 40m, it is not quite as sweet as in other parts of the country.
The potential rewards are as big as the actual challenges. Indonesia have been a huge underachiever in football, held back by politics, hooliganism, corruption (two decades on, it’s still hard not to mention the fact that Nurdin Halid ran the federation from a prison cell) incompetence and politics. The current football chief Erick Thohir has been a government minister since 2019 and getting to the World Cup would surely boost the presidential ambitions of the former owner of MLS’s DC United, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and Serie A’s Inter Milan.
Thohir’s tenure at the federation started in February 2023, with the team ranked 151st in the world according to Fifa. He has overseen a rapid ascent, albeit one that is not quite reflected in the current place of 122. In qualification for the 2022 World Cup, Indonesia played eight games and managed a single point, finishing with a -22 goal difference. For the 2026 World Cup, they were one of the 12 best performers out of the 46 starters in qualification, losing out in a fourth-round playoff to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Now it is just about taking the next step.
“Qualifying for a World Cup doesn’t happen overnight,” Herdman said at his unveiling in Jakarta. “Canada needed decades to achieve it. Indonesia has taken an important step – now our job is to take the next one. I will bring my passion … to help bring this country to, hopefully, a place it’s never been before. It’s time. Leading a national team means carrying the hopes of a nation.”
Herdman’s Canadian journey started when he took over a women’s team that finished last at the 2011 World Cup, losing all three games and scoring just once. A year later, they were winning bronze at the 2012 Olympics, and doing the same four years later.
Canada captain Christine Sinclair said in her memoir that Herdman was “the best coach I’ve ever had, hands down. He is life-changing. He helps you rediscover your passion. And within a team he creates a culture of unity, one where your egos are left at the door. You are doing this for the team and for each other. You spend 10 minutes in a room with him and you’ll be ready to walk through a wall for him.”
Herdman’s ability to create that sort of dedication will be crucial in his new position, coaching an Indonesian national team that has changed beyond almost all recognition. During qualification for 2026, as many as eight players born in the Netherlands, but with Indonesian heritage – quite common given the colonial links between the two nations – were in the starting eleven. This rapid influx brought improved results but there were questions about the team’s identity, especially as players few in Asia had heard of became automatic starters and the language in and around the team moved from Bahasa Indonesia to Dutch or English.
That intensified last year, under then-manager Patrick Kluivert and his coaching staff. The former Netherlands international got the job, at least in part, because of his nationality, but he wasn’t able to make it work. Herdman doesn’t have the playing resume ofthe former Ajax and Barcelona forward, but his coaching record is far superior. A certain pragmatism should also help, especially as he gets to grips with his new job.
“This guy knows what he’s doing … because he has a tactic every game,” Canada striker Jonathan David said in 2019.
A demand for improved standards on and off the pitch should make a difference in terms of training camps, time spent with players, facilities and the rest. With Thohir in charge, the two should be in unison in this and that relationship needs to be a good one.
A regional tournament, the ASEAN Cup in July and August, figures to be an opportunity to take a look at the local talent with European talent unavailable. It could also serve as a chance to replicate the 2011 gold medal Herdman won with Canada’s women at the Pan Am Games.
The first big test comes next January with the Asian Cup, hosted by Saudi Arabia. That should give some hint of whether Herdman is on track to give the country what it craves: a place at the 2030 World Cup. It would be his biggest achievement.
