“The win today puts us closer to our target of either third or fourth and with two more home matches to come, it is a real possibility,” said Shin. “We can feel it, the players can feel it. Through this result, we have to take big motivation from it and do our very best to reach the next stage of the qualification.”

The third and fourth placed teams from each of the three groups will advance to a playoff, where another two tickets to the FIFA World Cup will be available.

Having suffered defeats to China PR and Japan, Indonesia were expected to struggle against a Saudi Arabia side who are perennial FIFA World Cup qualifiers but Indonesia got off to a fast start and were well worthy of the win, having held the West Asians 1-1 in September's reverse fixture.

“I have to thank the players who played really well today as a team. In fact, all football fans in Indonesia came together and that gave great strength to the players. 

“We started well, had a few good chances and perhaps could have won by a bigger margin,” said Shin.

The defeat for Saudi Arabia meant that Herve Renard’s return as head coach ended with just one point and no goals scored from two matches with the French tactician admitting his side have a fight on their hands to secure one of the two automatic qualifying spots.

“It’s a reality that we haven’t been able to score in our last two matches. We conceded today from one counter attack and one free-kick, where we should have defended better. That’s how simple the game was. Indonesia played really well and showed they have real quality,” said Renard, who replaced Italian Roberto Mancini as head coach.

“What is clear now is that Japan are out in front on their own and everyone else will fight for second spot. We will try our best to finish second. Today is just one game and hopefully, we can reach our target.”

Saudi Arabia will face China PR when the AFC Asian Qualifiers resume in March with Indonesia to meet Australia.