Marked for Dzaky Asraf
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Sep 2030
Every point is an argument now for Madura United
Position 18 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad30 Sep 2030
A fracture rules Marinus Pato out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Madura United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Madura United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Hokky Caraka 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bagas Supriadi and Madura United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market30 Sep 2030
No place for Dzaky Asraf in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dzaky Asraf has his answer from Madura United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vava Mario Yagalo, and the manager let it.
Market30 Sep 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Danilo Santacruz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market30 Sep 2030
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Madura United money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Sep 2030
No end in sight to Madura United's wait for a win
25 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Madura United has to find a result from somewhere.
Match14 Sep 2030
A 0‑4 beating by Persijap was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Bambang Putra breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match14 Sep 2030
Madura United are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market16 Sep 2030
Dzaky Asraf has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Madura United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market16 Sep 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Jordy Wehrmann 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Monteiro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Aug 2030
No end in sight to Madura United's wait for a win
23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Madura United has to find a result from somewhere.
Match2 Sep 2030
Every point is an argument now for Madura United
Position 18 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match31 Aug 2030
A 1‑4 beating by Bali United was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Rachmat Asnawi has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Madura United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad2 Sep 2030
A fracture rules Bambang Putra out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Madura United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Sep 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout2 Sep 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Madura United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at Madura United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad2 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Madura United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Aug 2030
21 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.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Bambang Putra breaks a bone — 50 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Aug 2030
Dzaky Asraf has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Madura United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Jordy Wehrmann 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.
Match17 Aug 2030
1‑3 to Bhayangkara Presisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
Madura United asked and Persijap said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Words at Madura United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuda Editya 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 dugout19 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hokky Caraka, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Aug 2030
19 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.
Match5 Aug 2030
Every point is an argument now for Madura United
Position 18 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match3 Aug 2030
0‑3 against Persebaya, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market5 Aug 2030
Dzaky Asraf hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Madura United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match3 Aug 2030
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets5 Aug 2030
The deal with Bali United 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Madura United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Bambang Sucipto gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bambang Sucipto has just signed for Madura United, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Jul 2030
17 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.
Market22 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Madura United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Jul 2030
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Madura United can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Jordy Wehrmann 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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persijap have kept their man, and Madura United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Yuda Editya 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.
Match20 Jul 2030
0‑2 to Arema, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead22 Jul 2030
Everything rides on PSIM
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Madura United know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Jul 2030
15 matches without a win for Madura United
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Madura United are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Jul 2030
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market8 Jul 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout8 Jul 2030
Hafizh Rizkianur: 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.” Madura United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
The paperwork begins on Ahmad Pato
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Madura United have done the hard part with Bali United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad8 Jul 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ricky Kambuaya commits to Madura United for another 2 years.
Squad8 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Madura United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Jul 2030
$158.8K of the owner's money at Madura United
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad8 Jul 2030
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Madura United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jun 2030
No end in sight to Madura United's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Madura United has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Jun 2030
Zahir Fazya hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Madura United can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Jun 2030
8 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Market24 Jun 2030
Only the photograph left for Dzaky Asraf
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dzaky Asraf will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Madura United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Dzaky Asraf has agreed terms with PSIM for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Jordy Wehrmann 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.
Market24 Jun 2030
The shirt still fits. Vava Mario Yagalo is back at Madura United, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Sani Rizki has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Madura United have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match22 Jun 2030
1‑2 to Persib, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 May 2030
PSM go through and Madura United go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match18 May 2030
Beaten 0‑3 by Persijap, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match18 May 2030
8 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.
Match18 May 2030
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad20 May 2030
A one-man rearguard from Zahir Fazya
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout20 May 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 May 2030
Jordy Wehrmann and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom20 May 2030
The borrowing at Madura United reaches $18.6M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $18.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom20 May 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
In brief
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Player ratings
Dzaky Asraf beats them one at a time
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
No hiding place for Robi Darwis
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Mar 2030
No end in sight to Madura United's wait for a win
19 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Madura United has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces11 Mar 2030
Supporters organise against the Madura United board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom11 Mar 2030
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Madura United is running low.
Match9 Mar 2030
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Jordy Wehrmann 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
0‑2 to Persik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Emerson Souza 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rizky Riyadi and Madura United agree another 3 years.
Market11 Mar 2030
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Jan 2030
The mood at Madura United has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market14 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Madura United can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jan 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Madura United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Everything agreed with Persik, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. a squad player has agreed terms with Maluku Utara United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Jordy Wehrmann 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.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Madura United asked and Bali United 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 dugout14 Jan 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 Dec 2029
Supporters organise against the Madura United board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market17 Dec 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Jordy Wehrmann 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 dugout17 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Dec 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrean Rindorindo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
Zahir Fazya knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zahir Fazya trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Nov 2029
Anger at Madura United spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Ricky Kambuaya 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Pedro Monteiro 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Anwar Rifai knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Madura United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Nov 2029
Madura United have made Marinus Pato available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Oct 2029
Supporters organise against the Madura United board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Jordy Wehrmann 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Madura United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrean Rindorindo 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Ricky Maulana
“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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Madura United, and both men came out saying it was fine.