Jakarta Gathers 21 Players, One Late Call-Up, and John Herdman's Unrevealed Puzzle

Opening: footsteps in a hotel corridor

There is a moment in this profession that I never forget: the final days before a major tournament, when the press room still has nothing to say, but the hotel corridor is already full of footsteps. On 20 September 2026, after John Herdman's 23-man list had already been announced, one more name quietly appeared on the Indonesian Football Association's bulletin: Shayne Pattynama. The defender who plays for Persija Jakarta was added as a late call-up. No grand press conference, no long statement. Just one extra slot, issued in silence.

By this point, 21 players have reported in Jakarta to begin the final phase of preparation under Herdman. Out of the 23 names called up, 21 have gathered. A ratio like that is often skipped in fast news cycles, but for someone whose job is to follow a team, small gaps always tell more than round numbers. I went to Euro 2026 with a pen and came back with a stadium in my heart. That feeling returns every time a national team enters the final week before kickoff.

Context: Group A and three matches with no room for slowness

According to the official FIFA ASEAN Cup 2026 match schedule, Indonesia are in Group A alongside Singapore, Malaysia and Bangladesh. All of Indonesia's group-stage matches will be played at Stadion Utama Gelora Bung Karno (SUGBK), Jakarta. This is a clear advantage: three matches, one stadium, no travel, no adapting to an unfamiliar climate, no getting used to a new pitch.

Indonesia open against Singapore on 25 September 2026. Three days later, on 28 September 2026, they face Malaysia. On 1 October 2026 they meet Bangladesh. Three matches inside seven days. This is the kind of schedule that any coaching staff must plan around by dividing the squad into blocks of minutes, rather than naming one lineup and hoping fitness holds.

The gap between the first and third match is six days. In a national-team tournament played in a short centralized format, six days roughly equals two full recovery cycles and one partial recovery cycle. Any player who goes the full 90 minutes in all three matches crosses a load threshold that sports science labels as a soft-tissue risk zone. For a squad with many players arriving from different leagues in Europe and Asia, synchronizing physical condition matters as much as synchronizing tactical ideas.

Core: 21 names, three operating blocks and a spine taking shape

The 21 players who have reported in Jakarta are Luke Vickery, Mitchell Baker, Maarten Paes, Thom Haye, Ragnar Oratmangoen, Jordi Amat, Egy Maulana Vikri, Rayhan Hannan, Dion Markx, Shayne Pattynama, Rizky Ridho, Nadeo Argawinata, Dony Tri Pamungkas, Ivar Jenner, Kevin Diks, Elkan Baggott, Ole Romeny, Emil Audero, Justin Hubner, Nathan Tjoe-A-On and Joey Pelupessy. Reading that list, three operating blocks emerge fairly clearly.

The first block is the goalkeepers and centre-backs, where Herdman has rare depth at Southeast Asian level. Maarten Paes, Emil Audero and Nadeo Argawinata form three options in goal. At the back, Jordi Amat, Elkan Baggott, Rizky Ridho, Justin Hubner, Kevin Diks and Shayne Pattynama are six names who can be arranged into different defensive structures. That signals Herdman is preparing for rotation based on the opponent, not fixing a back four.

The second block is midfield, where Thom Haye, Ivar Jenner, Joey Pelupessy, Nathan Tjoe-A-On and Dion Markx coexist. What stands out is the variety of profiles: some specialize in winning the ball in front of the defence, some can switch play long, some are comfortable keeping tempo with safe short passes. With three matches in seven days, having several different midfield profiles allows Herdman to change approach between the Singapore match and the Bangladesh match without changing the whole system.

The third block is the attack, where Ragnar Oratmangoen, Ole Romeny, Egy Maulana Vikri, Luke Vickery and Mitchell Baker are all present. This is the area I watch most closely in open sessions. The reason is simple: against three opponents of different quality, Herdman will need at least two ways of attacking. One based on ball control and off-ball movement against a deep block, and one based on transition speed against opponents who push up.

Luke Vickery and the lesson of a call-up that needs no noise

Among the newer faces, Luke Vickery draws the most attention. The Macarthur FC forward has the chance to play his first tournament in Indonesia colours. Vickery said via Instagram Story that this would be his first tournament with the national team, and that experiencing the atmosphere directly in Indonesia in front of the supporters would be something special. He said he cannot wait to give everything to help the team win the trophy.

A young player's words are often skimmed over. But having stood outside the mixed zone in Kazan in 2026, I learned that such lines need to be placed in context. A player who has just completed citizenship procedures and is entering a national-team tournament for the first time faces three layers of pressure at once: adapting to teammates, proving himself in a short window, and dealing with a stadium that holds a very large crowd. The lesson from the 2026 World Cup is simple: the ears always go before the pen. I had to rewatch the match footage at least twice before writing, and I still keep that habit today.

What matters is that Vickery was not included as a purely emergency option. His profile suits a forward who needs space behind the defensive line, the type who can exploit long balls over the top when opponents push up. In a group featuring Singapore and Malaysia, two sides that often play a relatively low block, Vickery's role may differ from when Indonesia meet Bangladesh, a team rated lower in squad depth.

Maarten Paes and the calm needed in a group that is easy to underestimate

Maarten Paes has spoken up to remind his teammates about the level of competition in Group A. The Indonesia goalkeeper stressed that every match demands full concentration, and expressed his wish to feel the supporters' backing from the very first game.

For someone who has followed many regional tournaments, this is a more important statement than it appears. There is a very familiar psychological trap in regional competition: when a national team is rated above all three group opponents, training intensity and in-match focus in the first game often drop by a few percentage points compared with the toughest fixture. Those few percentage points, in a match where the opponent defends in numbers, can be the entire difference between a 70th-minute goal and a goalless draw.

The calendar raises its own problem. The Singapore match on 25 September 2026 is the opener. Three days later comes Malaysia, and six days later Bangladesh. If Indonesia cannot solve the first match within the opening 60 minutes, the pressure shifts to the second game, and by the third the physical question becomes a psychological one. The drumbeat is not in the referee; it is in the breathing of the supporters. When 80,000 people at SUGBK begin to grow restless, players feel it faster than any instruction from the bench.

Contrarian angle: the return of the back three and the fear of being played in behind

There is a way of reading this list that I consider more important than the stat sheet. The number of centre-backs and full-backs among the 21 players is fairly large. Jordi Amat, Elkan Baggott, Rizky Ridho, Justin Hubner, Kevin Diks, Shayne Pattynama, Mitchell Baker and Nathan Tjoe-A-On can all play in defence or in hybrid roles between full-back and holding midfielder. In a tournament where Indonesia are rated above all three group opponents, carrying so many defensive options is usually read as a sign of thorough preparation.

I do not fully buy that reading. The shift to a back three across many regional national teams in recent years is usually presented as tactical progress. But looking at how it actually operates, most conversions stem from one specific fear: the back four being pierced in the channel between centre-back and full-back, and instead of fixing the covering mechanism, the staff add a centre-back to reduce the number of one-on-one situations they have to handle.

For Indonesia, the question is not whether Herdman uses a back three, but what he uses it for. If the back three is used as an attacking structure, with wing-backs pushing high and a deep-lying midfielder as the distribution axis, that is a deliberate choice. If it is used as a cushion to reduce risk in the opening minutes of the first match, that is a defensive choice disguised as modernity. The difference between these two uses will show up fast, usually inside the first 20 minutes: the starting position of the two wing-backs when the team has the ball will reveal almost the entire intent.

This leads to another blind spot that is rarely mentioned. With 21 players already gathered and one late call-up added on 20 September 2026, the biggest issue is not a shortage of bodies. The issue is that too many options make it harder to settle on a core XI. A national team with 14 players good enough to start is a healthy team. A national team with 20 players good enough to start, in a tournament with only three group matches, is a team facing an internal expectation-management problem.

I once had an interview I will never forget — because I asked nothing at all. The person sitting opposite stayed silent, and in that silence I understood that sometimes the real answer lies in who is chosen and who has to wait. With Indonesia right now, a similar question exists: who accepts sitting out the opener, and how does the coaching staff convince them.

What to watch: from the training pitch to the first match

Over the next seven days, three signals will matter more than the list itself.

The first is the defensive structure in tactical sessions. If drills are organized in blocks of four, Herdman is keeping a back four and treating the back three as a backup plan. If drills are organized in a back-three block with wing-backs operating as wide midfielders, that suggests the main structure is settled.

The second is how fitness groups are split. With three matches in seven days, whether a player trains heavy or light on the third day before the opener will reveal who is counted on for all three games.

The third is Luke Vickery's position in attacking combination drills. If he is placed as a central striker receiving the ball inside the box during finishing drills, that signals he will be given a chance from the Singapore match rather than waiting until Bangladesh.

In 2026 the stands were silent, but tweets took turns applauding. I learned from that season that the presence of supporters is not measured only by the number of people in the seats. For an opener at SUGBK on 25 September 2026, what Indonesia need is not a fever pitch from the first minute, but an atmosphere patient enough for the team to find a way through a packed defence.

Three matches, one stadium, one week. Tournaments like this do not reward the prettiest squad on paper. They reward the squad that understands best what it must do in each specific minute. And with 21 players already in Jakarta, plus a late call-up added at just the right time, the final question remains unanswered: is John Herdman building a team to win three matches, or a team not to lose them?