John Herdman Says FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 Squad Is Different from AFF, Playing Identity at Stake

Indonesia national team coach John Herdman has confirmed that the squad being prepared for the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 is not a continuation of the team that played in the AFF Cup. He stressed that the two tournaments have different contexts, player compositions, and approaches.

The statement was made by Herdman amid Indonesia's preparations for Group A of the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026, where the Garuda squad will compete with Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Singapore. Herdman said he has a different group of players, and the playing identity built since the March and June training camps will again be the reference point.

"As I have said, the AFF tournament is very different from the FIFA ASEAN. At the AFF we had a different squad," Herdman said. "This is the squad I handled in March, this is also the squad I handled in June. We have built an identity that worked. The supporters really enjoyed our style of play and we received a lot of positive comments about it."

Herdman also acknowledged that match results do not always reflect a team's performance on the pitch. According to him, Indonesia has dominated several aspects of play but still failed to get the maximum result. "Unfortunately in football, you can dominate territory, dominate the crossing statistics, dominate the regains in the opponent's area, but sometimes football does not give you the result you want," said the English coach. "That is part of the game and we accept it."

Herdman's statement implies that he wants the public to judge his team by its process and identity, not merely by results in the previous tournament. He hopes the players called up to the FIFA ASEAN Cup squad can again show the playing identity seen in the March and June international windows. "But I will keep saying that these are two different teams. There is a FIFA ASEAN team and there is an AFF team. You will see the FIFA ASEAN team," Herdman stressed. "We will see how this team performs and whether they can bring back the identity we saw in March and June, which brought us clean sheets and wins."

For Indonesian football, Herdman's statement signals that he wants to build a long-term foundation, not merely respond to tournament results. This approach aligns with the national team's need to have a consistent playing pattern across competitions, especially when facing Southeast Asian opponents with varied styles of play. Herdman appears to want to ensure that the identity built does not collapse simply because of result pressure in one tournament.

On the other hand, Malaysia is said to have an additional threat in Bergson da Silva, whom Malaysian legend Safiq Rahim rates as a new weapon for Harimau Malaya. Bergson has played for Johor Darul Ta'zim since 2021 and is considered capable of being a threat, including when facing Indonesia. This situation adds to the dynamics of Group A, where Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore all have the ambition to go far.

With a challenging set of opponents, Herdman is required to prove that the playing identity he has built can be translated into real results. He also needs to ensure that the transition from the AFF squad to the FIFA ASEAN Cup squad does not disrupt the team's balance. The Indonesian public is certainly waiting to see whether the new-look Indonesia national team at the FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 is truly different, or whether it repeats a similar record from the previous tournament.