Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and Ruan Índio takes the afternoon — 8.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ruan Índio provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dewa United offered $43.0K; Arema said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damion Lowe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dewa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Egy Maulana Vikri and Dewa United agree another 4 years.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Damion Lowe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ricky Kambuaya and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivar Jenner. 1‑0 against Madura United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Ivar Jenner was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dewa United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dewa United can pretend not to have heard.
Position 2, 67 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer from PSM for Muhamad Riyandi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee is $87.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Semen Padang drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Rosyad Setiawan was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $87.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
In brief
SquadDamion Lowe falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dewa United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Borneo had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Everything agreed with Semen Padang, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Johnathan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The fee is $70.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Persik drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Oktafianus Fernando is living that version at Dewa United, and it tends to show in the first month.
Dewa United asked and Persib said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dewa United can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Theo Numberi again, and this time the name on the line is Bali United. Dewa United are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damion Lowe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dewa United has been clear about where Johnathan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dewa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damion Lowe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexis Segovia is on it.
Alexis Segovia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johnathan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damion Lowe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sonny Stevens is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dewa United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Dewa United would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dewa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Dewa United that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Bambang Wibowo could afford to be generous.
Noah Sadaoui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match11 Sep 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Dewa United. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Dewa United asked and Arema said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 52 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Johnathan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
$22.0K was the most the club would pay and Persebaya were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
In brief
SquadWords at Dewa United training over how hard people work
A brace, and Bruno Miño takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Miño provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with Persis is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.24 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnathan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Persebaya made Dewa United work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Bambang Wibowo, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Grêmio keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Noah Sadaoui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Damion Lowe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lanús have kept their man, and Dewa United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Dewa United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bambang Wibowo after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dewa United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Noah Sadaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnathan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Dewa United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Nobody left the Dewa United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dewa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dewa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Dewa United asked and Semen Padang said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dewa United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Dewa United had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Racing Club, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The chase for Irfan Jaya ended with $160.0K changing hands and Bali United out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lautaro Torres. 3‑1 against Madura United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Johnathan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dewa United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Noah Sadaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnathan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Dewa United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
1‑4 to Persija, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dewa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Dewa United have done the hard part with Atletico Nacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Damion Lowe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Nobody left the Dewa United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marked 7.96. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Ivar Jenner scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to PSM, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad31 May 2027
Johnathan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against PSM; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dewa United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dewa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Noah Sadaoui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnathan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dewa United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Edo Febriansyah obliged against PSM. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Dewa United.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Dewa United rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and PSM had no answer to any of it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Johnathan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dewa United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dewa United can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnathan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dewa United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dewa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 May 2027
Johnathan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
0‑1 to Bali United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Bambang Wibowo to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dewa United has been clear about where Wahyu Prasetyo stands, which is more than many ever get.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dewa United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yofandani Pranata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dewa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Johnathan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gil Revivo is living that version at Dewa United, and it tends to show in the first month.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Dewa United told Bruno Miño something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Gil Revivo is 16, and Dewa United have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Noah Sadaoui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Bambang Wibowo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Dewa United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dewa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dewa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Johnathan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Johnathan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Bambang Wibowo could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Dewa United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yofandani Pranata has his answer from Dewa United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Persita will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Marked 7.65. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Dewa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ripal Wahyudi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Bambang Wibowo, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Dewa United and Persik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivar Jenner has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dewa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Noah Sadaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Johnathan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Bambang Wibowo could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Miño asks for a word with the manager
Vico was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damion Lowe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dewa United asked and Monaco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Damion Lowe is on it.
In brief
Player ratingsIvar Jenner beats them one at a time
$990.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to Maluku Utara United, the club has $990.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Dewa United asked and Caracas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Dewa United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dewa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Noah Sadaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Egy Maulana Vikri is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dewa United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Dewa United enter the window
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dewa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Damion Lowe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Dewa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dewa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Noah Sadaoui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Damion Lowe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Egy Abimanyu has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dewa United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dewa United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Noah Sadaoui
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dewa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dewa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hendro Riyadi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aditya Darmawan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Dewa United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Egy Maulana Vikri is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dewa United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yofandani Pranata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dewa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnathan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dewa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Septian Asnawi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dewa United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Persis will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Dewa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Dewa United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flamengo is saying, and nobody at Dewa United is enjoying the guessing.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Muhammad Natsir reports back to Dewa United with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Johnathan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
114 minutes played. Vico found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and PSM went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dewa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Noah Sadaoui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johnathan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and Dewa United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Persijap have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muhammad Natsir. The answer from Dewa United has not changed — yet.