The national football team lost to Indonesia for the first time in 68 years and missed the 2026 World Cup, should Ivan be responsible for the exit?

On the evening of June 5, the Chinese men's football team played away against the Indonesian team in the ninth round of the round of 18 of the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup Asian qualifiers, and finally the Chinese men's football team lost 0:1 to the Indonesian team, completely losing the qualification to advance to the play-offs and missing the 2026 US-Canada-Mexico World Cup.

The Chinese men's football team lost 0:1 to the Indonesian team and missed the 2026 World Cup

The head coach of the national football team, Ivankovic, said after the game that if the national football team can advance to the next round, it has a great hope of rushing to the World Cup, but the result was unsuccessful, and he has to bear a very big responsibility as the coach. After the national football team was out, "Ivan got out of class" appeared on Weibo hot search, causing heated discussions among domestic netizens, some people think that "it's time to change", but some people think that the Chinese Football Association is responsible, "how many coaches have been changed, and I haven't recognized myself yet".

In response to a question from a reporter from Xinhua News Agency at the post-match press conference, Ivankovic said that Chinese football has been striving to qualify for the World Cup final week for more than 20 years, and the team has been working hard for this goal. "In such a competitive group, if we can qualify for the next stage, we have a lot of hope of making it to the World Cup." Ivankovic said: "But we didn't work out and I have a lot of responsibility as a manager.

Should Ivankovic be held responsible for the national team's exit?

In this 0:1 defeat to Indonesia, 18-year-old player Wang Yudong played for the first time on behalf of the national football team, and another 18-year-old striker Liu Chengyu made his debut for the national team. Regarding these hopes for the future of Chinese football, Ivankovic said: "The arrival of young players has injected a lot of motivation into the team. Judging by their performance, the Chinese team will have a good future. ”

Commenting on the defeat, Ivankovic said that the Indonesian team is very strong and has maintained its form. I knew before I came to Indonesia that the race would be tough, especially because the harsh weather conditions were a challenge. "Thank you to my players for fighting until the last minute." He said.

The national football team lost to Indonesia for the first time in 68 years

When asked by an Indonesian reporter how this match was different from the victory over the Indonesian team in Qingdao in October last year, Ivankovic said that since the last meeting, the Indonesian team has had a lot of new players, whether it is naturalized players or Indonesian local players, they are very young and show strong strength.

In the third stage of the round of 18, the national football team won only two of the nine games, namely a 2-1 home win over Indonesia and a 1-0 away win over Bahrain.

The last time the Chinese team lost to the Indonesian team, it was in the 1957 World Cup qualifiers, when they lost 0:2 to the Indonesian team.After the national football team lost to Indonesia for the first time in 68 years, the words "Ivan got out of class" appeared on Weibo hot search, causing heated discussions among netizens, and some people thought that Ivankovic was responsible for the failure of the national football team, "Go home when you should go home." When you lose 9 goals in the first two rounds, it's time to change", "You will always only play that tactical system", "The garbage teacher forces the students to bring more and more vegetables".

However, some netizens think that there are other people who are responsible, even if the coach is changed, it is useless, "How many coaches have been changed, I haven't recognized myself yet", "Because the coach is out of class, someone is responsible, and no one will hold the Football Association accountable for its incompetence", "Change a coach a year, it's hell if you can get results", "I mean that every time the coach is selected, who should take the blame", "It doesn't matter if the coach gets out of class or not, it's the same for whoever comes".

Ivankovic attends the post-match press conference.

After the national football team lost to Indonesia, it will definitely not be able to rank among the top four with 6 points in 9 games in Group C, and it will officially end in the 2026 World Cup finals week. The national football team will play the last group game next Tuesday (10th), at home against another team that is determined to be out of the tournament, Bahrain. The last time the national football team reached the World Cup was the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, and since then they have been in the finals for 6 consecutive times.