The biggest and loudest game anywhere this week is in Indonesia. Eighty-thousand fans are expected to pack the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta to watch the national team take on neighbouring Malaysia as 2022 World Cup qualification in Asia gets into gear.

Singapore and Malaysia have a deep-rooted and complex relationship but there is hostility when Indonesia and Malaysia come together. Not for nothing has the Malaysian FA, according to reports, requested that there be an armoured personnel carrier on standby. These two south-east Asian nations squabble over a whole host of cultural aspects from who invented batik, wayang kulit (the almost-forgotten but now reviving art of shadow puppetry) and rendang. What really does unite is a love of football.

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South-east Asia connects to India to the north-west and China to the north-east and is influenced by both. Home to over 600 million people, this is the most passionate football region in the continent and Indonesia is the most passionate football nation in south-east Asia. This is why – forget China and India – the real sleeping giant of world football is this sprawling archipelago which is home to over a quarter of a billion people.

Indonesia was the first Asian nation to make the World Cup when known as Dutch East Indies back in 1938. That remains the sole south-east Asian appearance on the global stage, a sad fact that is not going to change in 2022, though there is some optimism about 2026 when the tournament expands and Asia’s automatic allocation doubles from four to eight.

Thailand and Vietnam (who are in the same five-team group and also meet on Thursday) are the best in the region with the latter recently overtaking the former as the top dogs. Yet even this pair would be satisfied just by surviving this second round of qualification as one of the eight group winners or the best four runners-up to get into the next stage where the fun really begins.

With the United Arab Emirates also in the group, finishing in the top two looks to be beyond Indonesia. The Merah Putih can’t even target an improvement on their last qualification performance as they were not allowed to participate. That was because Fifa finally suspended the federation for political interference in the running of the game.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Briton Simon McMenemy, pictured when in charge of the Philippines, is the coach of Indonesia. Photograph: Dita Alangkara/AP

There had been issues for years: not least the twin corruption convictions of Nurdin Halid, who was still allowed to serve as the president of the Indonesian federation from 2003 to 2011. His eventual removal provoked more political upheavals with, among other things, the formation of rebel leagues, federations and national teams adding to the chaos.

The passion that attracts politicians and hangers-on can also boil over into something ugly. Indonesia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to watch the beautiful game. Figures differ but it is estimated that around 70 people have been killed at or around football games since the early 1990s. Attending a league match between rivals such as Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung is often not for the faint of heart and two fans died in 2011 in a stampede during a Southeast Asian Games final between the under-23 teams of Indonesia and Malaysia in Jakarta.

The pressure from Indonesia will be intense in the opening 20 minutes. They will be looking for early goals

According to the Indonesian government, the 3,000 Malaysian fans heading across the Straits of Malacca will be completely safe but there are still concerns in Kuala Lumpur about the team getting a rough ride on and off the pitch – hence the armoured personnel carrier request. “We are not worried about the situation at the stadium itself as there are a lot of security personnel from both Malaysia and Indonesia guarding the perimeter, but there is a risk of provocation and chaos en route,” said Hamidin Mohd Amin, the Malaysian FA’s president, on Tuesday.

The Malaysian players need to handle the situation, too, if they are to avoid a 13th defeat in 19 games in the arena. “We have also taken account of fans provoking our players,” said Malaysia’s coach, Tan Cheng Hoe. “However, my charges have had experience playing in a full-capacity stadium, so they know how to handle difficult situations.”

Tan is a studious and thoughtful tactician and also knows that the Bukit Jalil Stadium back in Kuala Lumpur, with an official capacity of 88,000 – though which has been known to squeeze in a few thousand more – can be almost as intimidating as the Gelora Bung Karno.

“The pressure from Indonesia will be intense in the opening 20 minutes. They will be looking for early goals. My players need to be assured in absorbing the pressure,” added Tan.

Indonesia’s British coach, Simon McMenemy, has a different concern: that the occasion won’t affect his players’ discipline.

Neither Indonesia or Malaysia are going to get to the 2022 World Cup but if there was a trophy for the best atmosphere in football this week, then there would be a trophy in that famous old stadium in Jakarta. Asia’s real sleeping giant can still make a mighty noise and this should be the week when Indonesian football makes some international headlines for the right reasons.