Indonesia's scoring issues prompt coach Kluivert to 'punch myself in face'

(Fixes spelling of Saleh Abu Al-Shamat in paragraph three)

By Michael Church

JEDDAH :Indonesia coach Patrick Kluivert said his team's inability to turn scoring opportunities into goals has left him frustrated as the Southeast Asian nation's World Cup dream teeters on the brink after a 3-2 loss to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Kluivert, a prolific scorer in his playing days with Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona and the Netherlands, saw his team fail to net in open play against their hosts in Jeddah, with both of Indonesia's goals coming from penalties by Kevin Diks.

However, Saudi Arabia's ruthlessness in front of goal, which had Saleh Abu Al-Shamat cancel out Diks' first penalty and Feras Al-Buraikan score twice, swung the tie in favour of the home side and leaves Herve Renard's team on the cusp of qualification for next year's tournament in North America.

"That's the thing that we're going to work on but it's very difficult, we can't train it and that's a fact," Kluivert said when asked about the narrow difference between the teams in the expected goals metric after the game.

"Sometimes I punch myself in the face and it's a pity that that's something we can't train properly.

"We're not happy, we're very disappointed but at 3-2 we're going with our heads up off this pitch because in three days we have another match waiting for us.

"We need to clear our minds and look for a good game against Iraq."

Kluivert's side face Iraq, led by Graham Arnold, on Saturday needing to win to retain hope of qualifying for Indonesia's first World Cup since gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1949.

The winners of the three-team group will join Japan, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Uzbekistan and Jordan as one of Asia's automatic qualifiers for the