Marked for Sihran Amarullah
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Felipe Villa
77 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
15 unbeaten for Borneo
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Borneo did not have in the autumn.
Match25 Sep 2027
Nobody wins at Borneo
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
13 goals and a season average of 7.28. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
137% of the income goes out in wages at Borneo
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Marcos Astina at his very best
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Borneo.
Match25 Sep 2027
It needed Marcos Astina to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Arema, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Leo Guntara 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Felipe Villa
93 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Still nobody has beaten Borneo
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match11 Sep 2027
Borneo make home a hard place to visit
12 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Borneo get the job done against Persik
A 2‑1 win over Persik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Persijap to sit and watch. I want to come back to Borneo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Mohamad Anez 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Felipe Villa
116 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match23 Aug 2027
Borneo up to position 3
49 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match21 Aug 2027
Borneo cannot stop winning
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Aditya Abimanyu: 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Borneo make home a hard place to visit
11 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Ahmad Saddil has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Borneo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Borneo
Kei Hirose 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pratama Beckham is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match7 Aug 2027
Juan Felipe Villa wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Juan Felipe Villa found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and PSM went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Asilbek Aliev: 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Kaio Nunes
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Aug 2027
Nobody wants to play Borneo right now
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
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.
Match7 Aug 2027
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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Three points for Borneo, 1‑0 the final word against PSM in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Borneo had the best player on the pitch.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Syahrul Trisna, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
189 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Borneo know what they have.
Match31 Jul 2027
7 unbeaten for Borneo
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Borneo did not have in the autumn.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Kaio Nunes runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match31 Jul 2027
Semen Padang made Borneo work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 Borneo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Borneo
Kei Hirose 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.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
160% of the income goes out in wages at Borneo
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 Borneo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Kadú keeps Borneo in it on his own
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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamad Anez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Kaio Nunes runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Jun 2027
The Koldo Obieta story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Koldo Obieta signs something — a contract at Borneo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market14 Jun 2027
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Asilbek Aliev arrives from Andijon with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 May 2027
Kei Hirose runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 May 2027
Kei Hirose in a row with a teammate
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.
Match8 May 2027
A 2‑0 win over PSBS Biak, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings10 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Kaio Nunes at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Borneo.
Squad10 May 2027
Kaio Nunes finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Borneo have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 May 2027
No end in sight to Borneo's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Borneo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match1 May 2027
The goals have deserted Borneo
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Borneo can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Wages eat 129% 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.
Squad3 May 2027
“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
Match6 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Borneo
7 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Borneo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The Borneo board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcos Astina commits to Borneo for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Kaio Nunes
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Rivaldo Enero: 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Borneo's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Borneo has to find a result from somewhere.
Match20 Feb 2027
The goals have deserted Borneo
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Borneo can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Maluku Utara United came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Borneo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Borneo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Borneo cannot find the net
3 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mohamad Anez 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Persebaya defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Borneo
Kei Hirose 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 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sihran Amarullah, and the manager let it.