Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Borneo and Madura United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 9.41 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kadú was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Rodolphe Ekou's mistake
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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 João Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at Borneo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutRodolphe Ekou knocks on the manager's door
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Sahar Hershkovich was at the centre of it, PSM were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sahar Hershkovich provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Apr 2031
Up for the corner, and Rodolphe Ekou delivers — 7.82
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rodolphe Ekou scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
8.17. 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
João Vieira 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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 Kadú was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kadú was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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 Borneo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aji Kusuma and Borneo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kadú 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Borneo has been clear about where Kadú stands, which is more than many ever get.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Felipe Villa. 1‑0 against Persib, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
He is 17, he is averaging 6.61, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sahar Hershkovich 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 Feb 2031
João Vieira 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
“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 ratings10 Feb 2031
A brace, and Aji Kusuma takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aji Kusuma provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matan Cohen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Borneo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 for Rodolphe Ekou, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Borneo close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marcos Astina 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persija have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vieira 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.
Borneo have made the call to Maccabi Petach Tikva. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Borneo have made the call to Bnei Yehuda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Mohammad Al-Husseini is on it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo 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 Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Radnicki Nis 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Persik is saying, and nobody at Borneo is enjoying the guessing.
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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kadú 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with Persijap 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.
Borneo 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.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kadú 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“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.
Everything agreed with Cukaricki, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Arief Catur has agreed terms with Arema for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Kaio Nunes 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.
Borneo asked and Shonan Bellmare said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo 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 Borneo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcos Astina 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Caniggia has just signed for Borneo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Borneo 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
“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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammad Al-Husseini, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vieira 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dion Markx trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Borneo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
62 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Borneo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andri Abimanyu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Marcos Astina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Uri Hemed's mistake
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Marcos Astina 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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vieira 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 Borneo 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 club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Borneo this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Borneo, another week without a signature from Teguh Trisnanda.
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Kaio Nunes 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.
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.
Position 5, 62 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
“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.
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.
“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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
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.
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muhammad Ridwan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
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.
Marcos Astina 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Kaio Nunes 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.
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 Mohammad Al-Husseini is on it.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Borneo this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
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.
“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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Arief Catur on the training pitch
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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 Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
Position 5, 62 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Borneo could ask drops and the wages Teguh Trisnanda can ask rise.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Marcos Astina 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 Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout14 Oct 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Uri Hemed's mistake
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Vieira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to João Vieira and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Borneo 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 club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Borneo this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Borneo, another week without a signature from Arief Catur.
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Sep 2030
João Vieira 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.
Position 5 on 62 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Position 5 on 62 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Marcos Astina 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 finished 3‑2, and it was Uri Hemed’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Borneo.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 19 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Borneo asked and BATE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Borneo 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 has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSBS Biak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Borneo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 25 arrived, 22 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Borneo have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
A brace, and Marcos Astina takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcos Astina provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
14 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marcos Astina. 2‑0 against Madura United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Boardroom118% of the income goes out in wages at Borneo
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Borneo have done the hard part with Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Marcos Astina 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. Talgat Logvinenko is living that version at Borneo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vieira 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.
0‑3 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Kaio Nunes 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.
11 combined actions and 6.50. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Sergio González is in the works
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Borneo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oghenekaro Awoniyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Borneo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Borneo and PSM, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Luciano has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Borneo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marcos Astina. 2‑1 against Semen Padang, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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 Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Borneo asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 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.
A brace, and Marcos Astina takes the afternoon — 8.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcos Astina provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marcos Astina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marcos Astina. 2‑1 against Persis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Grigore Turda is in the works
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Borneo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
The deal with Maccabi Haifa 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
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.
Borneo had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Metalist, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Teguh Trisnanda has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Borneo asked and Dinamo Makhachkala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Manor Melikson is in the works
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: HNK Rijeka keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Marcos Astina 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.
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.
“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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Matan Cohen is living that version at Borneo, and it tends to show in the first month.
500 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Borneo asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSBS Biak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Borneo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings10 Jun 2030
A brace, and Marcos Astina takes the afternoon — 9.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcos Astina provided it, and the 9.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Marcos Astina scored in the 87th minute, Persebaya had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Borneo took the lot.
4 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Borneo will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ryan Ardiansyah is living that version at Borneo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Juan Felipe Villa scored in the 89th minute, PSIM had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Borneo took the lot.
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.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Oghenekaro Awoniyi 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marcos Astina 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.
Half the programme played, position 8, 27 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo 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 Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Borneo did not have in the autumn.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Squad13 May 2030
Kaio Nunes 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Pol Gómez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Koldo Obieta. 2‑0 against Persik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Andri Abimanyu has come out of that comparison in the side, and Borneo have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marcos Astina 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 Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chris Nduwarugira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Borneo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Borneo dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dewa United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Madura United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑4 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
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 0‑4 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aji Kusuma 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Kaio Nunes 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.
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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Marcos Astina 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Aji Kusuma is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
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.” Interim Coach, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Borneo, another week without a signature from Chris Nduwarugira.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aji Kusuma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Oghenekaro Awoniyi 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Borneo know it.
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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Kaio Nunes 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.
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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
10 new faces, and Borneo 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.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Marcos Astina 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kadú is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Andri Abimanyu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 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 Borneo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Marcos Astina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaio Nunes 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Borneo know it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
A brace, and Marcos Astina takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcos Astina provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes 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. Partizan have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo 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 Borneo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Marcos Astina 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.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Borneo asked and Maccabi Tel Aviv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Fachri Firmansyah clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. PSBS Biak moved on, Kei Hirose reports back to Borneo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Borneo 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.
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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Faza Al Firdaus is a Borneo player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Borneo will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Chris Nduwarugira has agreed terms with Persib for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Kadú 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arief Catur has just signed for Borneo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Astina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Borneo asked and Skonto said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Maccabi Tel Aviv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo 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 Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Astina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Borneo asked and Chornomorets 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
Kaio Nunes is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo 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 Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sadida Nugraha Putra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Borneo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Haifa have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Teguh Trisnanda has his answer from Borneo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Borneo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Kadú 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Astina 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.
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 Juan Felipe Villa is on it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Borneo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kadú 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Zanadin Fariz has, at Borneo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Astina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimas Jaya is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andi Hidayat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Agung Hardiyanto 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pratama Hidayat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Persija ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces17 Dec 2029
Borneo are taken apart by Persija — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Marcos Astina 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
Kaio Nunes is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Marcos Astina 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.
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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Nobody at Borneo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 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.” Borneo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kadú 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Marcos Astina 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo 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 Aji Kusuma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Borneo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcos Astina signs something — a contract at Borneo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Chris Nduwarugira has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Astina 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Borneo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Koldo Obieta 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 Borneo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Marcos Astina 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Borneo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Nobody at Borneo 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.
20 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.
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 Nov 2029
Aji Kusuma 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iago Mendonça signs something — a contract at Borneo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Kadú 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Marcos Astina 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.
Nobody at Borneo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcos Astina signs something — a contract at Borneo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Borneo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Astina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Borneo told Aji Kusuma something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Borneo 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 words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Borneo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aji Kusuma 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.
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.
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 Marcos Astina is on it.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Borneo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Kadú 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Astina 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Koldo Obieta, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
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.” Fachri Firmansyah, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Kadú 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 Oct 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Astina 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Borneo, another week without a signature from Mohammad Al-Husseini.
Nobody at Borneo 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 words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Marcos Astina 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Aji Kusuma 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“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.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Borneo now.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Marcos Astina 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. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Uri Hemed did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Al-Husseini 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.71 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Borneo close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marcos Astina. 2‑0 against PSBS Biak, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aji Kusuma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Madura United will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Borneo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
A brace, and Kaio Nunes takes the afternoon — 8.71
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kaio Nunes provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Marcos Astina 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Borneo now.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Borneo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Astina 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 Borneo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
A loan enquiry to Hapoel Tel Aviv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rian Miziar
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Aji Kusuma 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. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.71 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
6 goals in one match, Yuda Editya on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Borneo and PSM.
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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Yuda Editya obliged against Bhayangkara Presisi. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Borneo.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.20 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Uri Hemed did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deal with Hapoel Tel Aviv 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo 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 Borneo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vojvodina have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bhayangkara Presisi have kept their man, and Borneo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Al-Husseini and Borneo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Borneo and Bali United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marcos Astina. 4‑2 against Bali United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
15 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammad Al-Husseini and Borneo agree another 4 years.
Mohammad Al-Husseini 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.
A loan enquiry to Hapoel Tel Aviv: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
8.13. 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Borneo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo 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 estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Borneo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 Marcos Astina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Borneo asked and Aris Thessaloniki 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's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Borneo deserved better, and so did he.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Borneo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Borneo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rayhan Utina will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Borneo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persik keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rayhan Utina has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcos Astina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Borneo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
The deal with Aris Thessaloniki 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.
Marcos Astina 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: Yuda Editya. 2‑1 against PSIM, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.