The Brazilian coach's team sealed a late 2-1 win over co-hosts Indonesia thanks to Saad Al Harthi's header three minutes into injury time, allowing the former Sao Caetano boss to answer those who have been questioning his ability.

"The criticism was normal because I have never worked in Arabian football before," said Anjos, who replaced Saudi's World Cup coach Marcos Paqueta.

"I don't care about the criticism. I have a lot of experience in Brazil, coaching there in more than 1,000 games, and I know that I only have to answer the critics with results, and with good results."

It was so nearly not the case, however, as Indonesia fought a valiant rearguard action to frustrate the three-time champions until virtually the last touch of the game.

Yasser Al Qahtani had given Saudi Arabia the lead 14 minutes into the game with a fine header only for Elie Aiboy to pull his side level six minutes later when he rounded goalkeeper Yasser Al Mosailem to score.

Saudi, though, took complete control in the last quarter of the game, forcing Indonesia into a series of desperate last-ditch defensive moves to thwart Anjos' side.

But just when it looked like Indonesia were going to send the majority of the capacity crowd inside the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium home happy, substitute Al Harthi powered Abdulrahman Al Qahtani's free kick over the outstretched hand of Yandri Pitoy.

That header silenced the home fans and left Indonesia coach Ivan Kolev despondent on the day he celebrated his 50th birthday.

"I feel disappointed for the players and team," he said. "I feel sorry for the huge crowd in particular as we should have got one point today."

The result means Indonesia need to take something from their final match against Korea Republic on Wednesday and Kolev is hoping his players can bounce back against difficult games against the Saudis and Bahrain.

"I'm realistic, not pessimistic or optimistic," he said. "What we will try to do is deploy another strategy and I will have some new players against Korea Republic.

"Hopefully the players will recover quickly and have a good game. I will try my best to make them ready for our final match."