Hours after playing in FC Dallas’ final road game of the regular season against Portland Timbers, goalkeeper Maarten Paes will jet off to join up with the Indonesia national team for the second time since gaining citizenship earlier this year.
Paes and Indonesia will face Bahrain (Oct. 10) and China (Oct. 15) as they continue their World Cup qualifying campaign. During the last international break, Paes marked his very first Indonesia call-up with two headline-grabbing performances to help his adoptive nation earn draws against Saudi Arabia and Australia, two of the elite teams of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
“I think both games were a big mental boost for us towards the rest of the World Cup qualifiers,” Paes told FCDallas.com. “We could really see that we can go toe to toe with these World Cup nations. We could really do it and go all the way to the World Cup here (in the U.S.) in 2026, that would be insane and I think the fans deserve it.”
Paes started both games despite having only met the head coach, Shin Tae-yong of South Korea, after landing in Saudi Arabia three days prior to the game. With little time to prepare, Paes needed to become accustomed with his new teammates before lining up alongside them against one of Asia’s top teams.
“First I met the coach in his hotel room,” Paes explained. “We had a good chat, with translators of course, but we had a very good chat and set the standards. Afterwards, I knew some of the guys (on the team) since I played with them at my former clubs, so that was already good. Everyone was so kind, gave me a really warm welcome. From the get-go we developed good relationships, and we knew I had to get to know them fast because I was playing some big games with them in a couple days.”
Paes knew the importance of making a good first impression but risked his chance when he accidentally fouled a Saudi Arabian forward in the box with the score tied 1-1. He faced forward Salem Al-Dawsari from 12 yards out, needing to stop the penalty kick to keep his new nation in the game.
“Luckily, I prepared very, very good, I knew some ways how he would shoot the ball. He was their star player, Salem (Al-Dawsari), he plays for Al Hilal and scored a beautiful goal against Argentina in the World Cup. I'd studied him, but he had two kinds of PKS, one where he stopped, and one he went through, and then he stopped. And you see me like moving a little bit, so I was just praying I didn't move from my line. But luckily, I stayed very calm and then just executed the game plan on the PKS and made the save.”
Indonesia left Jeddah with one point from the 1-1 draw in its first game of World Cup qualifying. Paes and the team flew home to Jakarta to face Australia, ranked 25th in the world to Indonesia’s 129th. The Indonesian team played their hearts out in front of 70,000 of their countryman to earn another impressive draw—this time 0-0 with Paes making five saves.
“I think it's the highlight of my career so far in terms of playing in front of your own fans. I've played in the Ajax stadium, where there's 60,000 people, but then they're booing and hate you. This was the first time that they were actually there for us there. Again, I felt so calm and just felt the energy, almost like you have to do it for them. And that was just great. Luckily, the game developed in a way where I could help the team a lot.”
Paes is in line to earn his third cap for Indonesia on Oct. 10 against Bahrain in their national stadium before flying to Qingdao, Shandong to face China five days later. Victories against both opponents would go a long way to helping Indonesia qualify for the 2026 World Cup—something they’ve never done.
To automatically qualify automatically, Indonesia will need to finish in the top two of a six-team group that includes Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Australia and China. Finishing third or fourth means advancing to the next stage while fifth or sixth means elimination. Indonesia is currently in fourth place with two points, ahead of Australia and China.
