Being the talk of the US media, the Indonesian National Team turns mediocre players into superstars

Jakarta, Beritasatu.com – One of the United States media The Athletic highlighting the performance of the Indonesian National Team, which is now strengthened by many naturalized players. According to this media, Indonesia has turned mediocre players into superstars who are loved by the public.

“How Indonesia turned an unknown player into an admired superstar,” reads the title of the article The Athletic.

Caoimhe O’Neill, the journalist who wrote the article, gave the example of Maarten Paes. According to him, Maarten Paes is the main goalkeeper for MLS club FC Dallas. However, Paes can walk unnoticed on the busy streets of the city located in the state of Texas.

“However, that will not happen online or in Indonesia. Like his teammates in the Indonesian National Team, Paes was surrounded by many people when he visited Indonesia and has a massive following on social media,” he explained.

The Indonesian public always pays attention to all the movements of their national team players. Indonesian netizens also always chatter about Paes and his friends.

For the record, the United States has a larger population than Indonesia. The Indonesian national team players are so popular among netizens, The Athletic also revealed astonishing numbers about their followers on social media.

“Starting XI “When Indonesia played against Australia, it had 26.9 million Instagram followers,” he wrote The Athletic.

Indonesia is currently diligently carrying out a naturalization program to strengthen its national football team. Most recently, Indonesia has also approved two players, namely Mees Hilgers and Eliano Reijnders as citizens. These two players are expected to play for the Indonesian national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Bahrain and China.

Among the 11 starters who played in the 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against Saudi Arabia and Australia, nine of them were naturalized players.