Indonesia National Team Coach declares intention to defeat Japan to reach the Asian final

Indonesia futsal coach Hector Souto aims to overcome the "rock-solid" Japan team to secure a spot in the 2026 Asian futsal final.

Speaking at the press conference before the 2026 Asian futsal semi-final, Indonesia's coach Hector Souto shared:

“This will be a tough match against one of Asia’s top teams,” the 46-year-old coach stated. “We faced Japan in the 2022 quarter-finals; they are a very strong, dynamic team playing in a very Spanish style, and I hope that one day we can play like them.”

Earlier on the evening of February 3rd, Indonesia’s futsal team defeated Vietnam 3-2 in the quarter-finals to advance to the final four. This was also the first time this team has qualified for the Asian semi-finals.

According to Coach Souto, he knows Mr. Takahashi — head coach of Japan’s national team — very well. From 2018 to 2021, Takahashi served as the head coach of Indonesia’s futsal team. During the press conference, the Spanish strategist also praised his colleague:

“I know Takahashi well as a friend and colleague, and he brought many tactical elements to Indonesia that we have adopted because Japan is far ahead of us.”

Regarding the semi-final goal, Coach Souto confidently stated: “I’m glad that his former players and my current players will face each other, and we must perform at our best to have a chance to beat them, but our goal is to fight until we become champions.”

On the other side, Japan’s futsal coach said: “I’m very happy to compete against Indonesia since I developed my career here with the national team, and now I will do my best to coach the Japanese national team against them,” Takahashi said.

“Their team is strong and solid with good tactics, making it very hard to find any weaknesses. Their progress this far was unexpected by other teams.”