The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kazaki Nakagawa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kazaki Nakagawa 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
8 new faces, and Semen Padang 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Semen Padang know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Semen Padang 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 Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Maurício and Semen Padang agree another 2 years.
Rui Rampa 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.
Nobody at Semen Padang 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.
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kianz Froese signs something — a contract at Semen Padang or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutMuhammad Toha asks for a word with the manager
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Semen Padang will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 14 on 35 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.02 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 Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kazaki Nakagawa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 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 Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kazaki Nakagawa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Persija the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Semen Padang will enjoy reviewing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wahyu Agong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Semen Padang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
146 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Semen Padang will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Semen Padang close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 12 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Semen Padang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ravy Tsouka 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
153 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Semen Padang 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 Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Almagro 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Semen Padang have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Semen Padang asked and Almagro 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 Wakaso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rosyad Setiawan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is going to Persik, the club has $91.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The shirt still fits. Alwi Slamat is back at Semen Padang, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The fee is $84.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dewa United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Yofandani Pranata from Dewa United for $84.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Semen Padang asked and Dewa United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have shaken hands with Dewa United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rendy Oscario will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Semen Padang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Novri Setiawan is living that version at Semen Padang, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Ricki Ariansyah has come up in conversations Semen Padang were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Rui Rampa 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Semen Padang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Semen Padang game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at PSM runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
0‑1 to Borneo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
97% of the income goes out in wages at Semen Padang
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dimas Irawan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A loan enquiry to Chacarita Juniors: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Arthur Augusto: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Semen Padang have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang 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 Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Jaime Giraldo 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: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ravy Tsouka 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: 40. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Guillermo was one of the reasons people came, and $52.0K does not replace that by itself.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Semen Padang can tell you which week it ends in.
Ravy Tsouka 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.
Semen Padang asked and Persija said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Semen Padang, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Semen Padang can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dimas Irawan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Semen Padang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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.
Ricki Ariansyah 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.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dimas Irawan left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Dewa United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Kazaki Nakagawa 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.
Semen Padang asked and Patronato said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
$130.0K on the table at Persita. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dewa United have kept their man, and Semen Padang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rui Rampa 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.
11 combined actions and 7.66. 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Semen Padang have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Semen Padang, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arthur Augusto and Semen Padang agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ravy Tsouka 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. All Boys have kept their man, and Semen Padang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Semen Padang game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at PSM runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Semen Padang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Semen Padang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Madura United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Ravy Tsouka 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: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dimas Irawan was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Semen Padang dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Semen Padang scored in the 99th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad17 May 2027
Ravy Tsouka 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsArmando Oropa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Semen Padang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rendy Oscario will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Semen Padang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kazaki Nakagawa 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dimas Irawan left the room before anybody could ask which.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Semen Padang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Semen Padang may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
Ravy Tsouka 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 Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ricky Asnawi and Semen Padang agree another 3 years.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Dimas Irawan to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Boardroom89% of the income goes out in wages at Semen Padang
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ricki Ariansyah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Semen Padang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ângelo Meneses 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: 18. 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Persib.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Persijap defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Persib next, and one man in the Semen Padang dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of 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 Semen Padang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Semen Padang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dimas Irawan after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Semen Padang has been clear about where Ricki Ariansyah stands, which is more than many ever get.
A brace, and Kianz Froese takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kianz Froese provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Semen Padang 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 Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Semen Padang will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dimas Irawan on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Rui Rampa's mistake
“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 Semen Padang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.09, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Semen Padang, and 0 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
Something was said to Ricky Hidayat and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ravy Tsouka is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tin Martić has his answer from Semen Padang; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Semen Padang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kazaki Nakagawa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Stefano Lilipaly’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Semen Padang needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Semen Padang. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A 1‑0 win over Maluku Utara United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this 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 Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dimas Irawan could afford to be generous.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Semen Padang has been clear about where Asyraq Gufron stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Rosyad Setiawan's mistake
Successful dribbles: 38. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Dimas Irawan chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Persebaya defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Semen Padang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Semen Padang will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. PSIM will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Maurício and Semen Padang agree another 2 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 Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Persebaya in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Semen Padang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ravy Tsouka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Arthur Augusto is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against PSIM in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dimas Irawan to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Semen Padang has been clear about where Dimas Roni Saputra stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Arema next, and one man in the Semen Padang dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Semen Padang will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Semen Padang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rendy Oscario will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Semen Padang 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 Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jaime Giraldo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dimas Irawan could afford to be generous.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Semen Padang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Semen Padang people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ricki Ariansyah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Semen Padang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Semen Padang may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Semen Padang close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 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.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Add another name to the list: Dewa United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Boubakary Diarra. The answer from Semen Padang has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kazaki Nakagawa 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.
Semen Padang asked and Quilmes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Habibi Jusuf deal
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Semen Padang have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Rui Rampa 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.
Add another name to the list: PSBS Biak have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rendy Oscario. The answer from Semen Padang has not changed — yet.
Bahia 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Rosyad Setiawan'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. Semen Padang know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Semen Padang 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 Arema waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Semen Padang is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Semen Padang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Egy Putra 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Firman Darmawan 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.
The phone has started ringing about Teguh Amiruddin again, and this time the name on the line is Persijap. Semen Padang are listening politely and promising nothing.
Gimnasia y Esgrima 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Gabriel Vázquez is in the works
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Boubakary Diarra's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Semen Padang people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Achmad Iqbal Bachtiar has gone, the accounts have $84.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Semen Padang have done the hard part with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Semen Padang had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bahia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Madura United paid $84.0K and Semen Padang took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Semen Padang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
A loan enquiry to Almirante Brown: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Semen Padang have made the call to Bahia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Semen Padang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rui Rampa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang 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 Kazaki Nakagawa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Boubakary Diarra'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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bambang Wardana has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Aditya Saddil has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Rosyad Setiawan 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.
In brief
The dugoutRosyad Setiawan is still being punished for one mistake
Jaime Giraldo 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 Ravy Tsouka 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. Wahyu Agong is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kianz Froese signs something — a contract at Semen Padang or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Semen Padang may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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.
Rui Rampa 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Semen Padang know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutAsyraq Gufron knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rosyad Setiawan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Boubakary Diarra'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.
Jaime Giraldo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Rosyad Setiawan'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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Semen Padang. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Semen Padang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jaime Giraldo 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 Kazaki Nakagawa 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. Syahrian Wibowo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hanif Riyadi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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.
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 Semen Padang 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 Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Semen Padang 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.
In brief
The dugoutBoubakary Diarra is still being punished for one mistake
Ravy Tsouka 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Semen Padang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
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 Rendy Oscario has written the date down.
Jaime Giraldo 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bambang Santoso has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kurniawan Firmansyah has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rosyad Setiawan 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kianz Froese signs something — a contract at Semen Padang 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 Rendy Oscario has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Semen Padang the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ravy Tsouka 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Semen Padang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Semen Padang told Maicon Silva something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Semen Padang know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Rendy Oscario has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dimas Irawan after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Boubakary Diarra'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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Madura United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Semen Padang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rosyad Setiawan 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 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ravy Tsouka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Semen Padang asked and Rayo Vallecano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bimo Riyadi 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. Stefano Hidayat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Sep 2026
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.” Dimas Irawan, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Semen Padang 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bahia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ravy Tsouka 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. Temperley have kept their man, and Semen Padang 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: Kianz Froese. 1‑0 against PSM, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Semen Padang asked and Fortaleza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asyraq Gufron, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dimas Irawan was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Semen Padang dressing room was either.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Boubakary Diarra's mistake
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Persijap will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Semen Padang can pretend not to have heard.
Semen Padang had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Porto, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ravy Tsouka 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. Internacional have kept their man, and Semen Padang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Jaime Giraldo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Semen Padang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dimas Irawan after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PSV is saying, and nobody at Semen Padang is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Semen Padang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitoria Guimaraes have kept their man, and Semen Padang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hanif 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. Dimas Hardiyanto 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. Stefano Sucipto 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bimo Arhan 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Maurício and Semen Padang agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jaime Giraldo 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 Aug 2026
Words at Semen Padang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ravy Tsouka 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 Semen Padang, another week without a signature from Diego Maurício.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Semen Padang 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.