Indonesia square off against Palestine on Wednesday as they bid to extend their unbeaten record to three matches ahead of facing world champions Argentina.
Meanwhile, the visitors have put together a four-winning streak of their own, albeit over a one-year stretch, and they will want to impress at Gelora Bung Tomo.
Match preview
© Reuters
Rather than facing Palestine in their next fixture, everyone associated with Indonesia will already be looking forward to welcoming the 2022 World Cup winners to their shores.
There are a number of reasons why the presence of Lionel Messi and co will act as a huge boost for the country, yet from a footballing standpoint, Shin Tae-yong will want to focus on the upcoming contest.
Since losing in the AFF Championship at the semi-final stage in January, Indonesia have participated in just two fixtures, facing Burundi in a double-header within the space of a few days.
The Red and White prevailed by a 3-1 scoreline in the first fixture, before a dramatic finish in the second encounter saw Burundi go ahead in the 90th minute before failing to see out the contest.
In the grand scheme of things, however, Indonesia have lost just once in their last 11 matches in all competitions, that being a 2-0 defeat to Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Palestine have gone through a period of inactivity, only participating in one fixture since their Asian Cup qualifiers 12 months ago.
That solitary outing came in March with a 2-1 triumph being posted over Bahrain, a notable success for the Lions of Canann.
The aim will now be to build upon that result as they bid to justify their current FIFA World Ranking of 93rd courtesy of no defeats being registered since 2021.
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Team News
With Argentina to follow five days after this fixture, it s unclear whether Shin will name a weakened starting lineup or stick with the players from last time out.
Should he opt to retain the same XI, Ipswich Town's Elkan Baggott and former Swansea City man Jordi Amat will be the headline names in the centre of defence.
Rafael Struick, a young forward from Dutch side ADO Den Haag, could be handed his senior Indonesia debut from the substitutes' bench.
Makram Daboub is able to call upon each of the Palestine players that started the win over Bahrain and he may see no reason to tinker with that side.
However, winger Tamer Seyam, who with 12 goals has scored more than double any of his teammates, started that fixture as a substitute and could come into the team on the left flank.
There are also five uncapped players in the squad who will hope to make their debuts across this game and the following fixture with China.
Indonesia possible starting lineup:
Trisna; Yan. Sayuri, Amat, Baggott, Febriansyah; Klok, Kambuaya; Yak. Sayuri, Lilipaly, Drajad; Sulistyawan
Palestine possible starting lineup:
Hamada; Farawi, Termanini, Saleh, Jondi; Rashid, Yameen; Batran, Kharoub, Abu Warda; Wadi
We say: Indonesia 2-1 Palestine
With both nations having put together some strong form of late, this should be a competitive fixture. Although Indonesia may have one eye on facing Argentina, we still feel that they may do enough to claim a narrow victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
