Marked for Caxambu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jayus Hariyono
139 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Borneo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Borneo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Caxambu signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Caxambu commits to Borneo for another 2 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Borneo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match18 Aug 2029
Still nobody has beaten Borneo
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Borneo
Marcos Astina 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.
Match18 Aug 2029
Borneo make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Kei Hirose 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Caxambu gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match18 Aug 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Dewa United came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad20 Aug 2029
A first senior shirt for Serge Bogam
Every debut is a small story about the future: Serge Bogam, 21 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Mar 2029
Persib punish Borneo for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Alejandro Cárdenas will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Borneo escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A brace, and Alejandro Cárdenas takes the afternoon — 7.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Cárdenas provided it, and the 7.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces5 Mar 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Borneo
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Borneo is running low.
Squad5 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Borneo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Caxambu signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Caxambu commits to Borneo for another 2 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Hafith, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Borneo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Daffa Fasya: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Borneo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Borneo
Marcos Astina 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
The run at home goes on for Borneo
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulvohid G'ulomov 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 terraces25 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Saheed Owolabi 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Kaio Nunes gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
Wages eat 128% of everything Borneo earn
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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jul 2028
Alfred Odinaka: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Borneo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Borneo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Abdulvohid G'ulomov 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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
Wages eat 141% of everything Borneo earn
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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Jul 2028
No hiding place for Caxambu
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caxambu, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 May 2028
The small margins put Borneo out
Out, 0‑2 to Persis, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces22 May 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Borneo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Abdulvohid G'ulomov 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Kaio Nunes gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match20 May 2028
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad22 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Borneo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 May 2028
The Koldo Obieta talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Borneo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.