Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesian national team coach Shin Tae-yong provided the latest news regarding the condition of his player Mees Hilgers‘ injury which is getting better ahead of the two home matches in the third round of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in the Asian zone against Japan and Saudi Arabia.
“So he is a good athlete, so his recovery process is also progressing very well,” explained Shin when met by media crew in Tangerang, Monday.
Hilgers suffered the injury while strengthening FC Twente in the Dutch Eredivisie match against Willem II at the Koning Willem II Stadium, Saturday (2/11).
In the match which ended with Twente winning with a narrow score of 1-0, Hilgers appeared from the early minutes as a central defender. However, his appearance only lasted 45 minutes after he was replaced by Gustaf Lagerbielke in the second half.
Shin admitted that he would continue to monitor Hilgers’ progress ahead of the two home matches to be played on November 15 and 19.
In the closest match, Hlgers and Twente will play the Europa League away match against Nice at the Allianz Riviera on Friday (8/11) at 00.45 WIB.
“It depends on the condition of (Hilgers’) recovery time, depending on his condition later,” added the coach from South Korea.
Meanwhile, Shin has called up 27 names for the two matches against Japan and Saudi Arabia. Of the 27 names brought in, apart from Hilgers, the 54 year old coach included seven other players who could play the role of central defender in a 3-4-3 formation if Hilgers was unable to strengthen the Garuda team.
The six players are Muhammad Ferrari, Jay Idzes, Rizky Ridho, Justin Hubner, Jordi Amat, Calvin Verdonk, and Nathan Tjoe-A-On.
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