JAKARTA: Indonesia sacked coach Shin Tae-yong on Monday with the country’s football chief saying the team needed stronger leadership as it battles for a place at the 2026 World Cup. Tens of millions of people in the Southeast Asian nation are passionate football fans, but Indonesia’s sole World Cup appearance came during Dutch rule in 1938 and the country has rarely threatened a return since independence in 1945. Erick Thohir, who heads the Indonesia Football Association (PSSI), said Shin’s work with the team had “ended” and his replacement, whom he declined to name, would arrive in Indonesia on Jan 11. “We need a leadership that implements strategies as agreed with the players, communicates better, and implements better programmes for our national team,” Thohir told a press conference. Indonesia are third in their World Cup group after six of 10 matches, one point behind Australia in the battle for the second automatic spot in the finals. If they finish third or fourth, they could still get to the finals in North America through further rounds of qualifying and an intercontinental playoff. Thohir, who said he had interviewed three candidates to replace Shin during a recent trip to Europe, was not concerned that changing coaches in the middle of the campaign would disrupt the team. “It’s normal. Lots of countries switch coa­ches during World Cup qualifiers,” he added. “This is something we’ve been discussing for many months back, but I think the moment is right, because we still have 2 1/2 months preparation for next games. “We still have four matches and we want to get as many points as we can.”