Incompetence on Parade: The Life and Times of an Unknown Nobody(FM14)

[Brian Swartz]

FM and Me

I have a love-hate relationship with FM. It can be beyond awesome, and it can also be insanely cruel to people like me who don't know a ton about that football thing. The depth and complexity also presents a fairly massive challenge. Actually successfully completing a FM career would be akin to the 'holy grail' of sports sim achievements for me, but well, I've never remotely come close. Prior to this game I'm on right now, I never completed two years in one.

My only half-decent attempt was also published on this forum, with FM11, here: FM 11 -- From Humble Origins ... - Front Office Football Central Some good fun was had there but I quit halfway through the second season(for no good reason, it was more frustrating than I think it should have been, I was actually getting better).

So for that reason, when I started this game I didn't post about it right away because I didn't want to be 'that guy' who joins the throng of FM dynasties that come around every World Cup, posts six times and abandons it. Great way to tick off readers in my opinion.

I'm starting this now because, well, it's time. I'm almost four calendar years in, and have every intention of seeing it through, whatever that ends up meaning. I hope this proves enjoyable to read, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

The Setup

My goal was and is to make as realistic a career as possible. My personal experience with soccer is that I was a pretty decent defender and goalkeeper in youth league and then gave it up for basketball. That's it. So the bottom rung on the FM setup, 'Sunday League Footballer', is hideously overqualified.

Editor time. After some testing I ran into some limitations, because you can't start lower than being a head coach somewhere, and there's a minimum level below which clubs won't even talk to you. Experimentation showed that level to be a little over half of what you start at with the 'Sunday League Footballer' setting, so that's where I began.

I recreated myself as accurately as possible in the profile, and loaded leagues from all over the world. I don't start with the intention of staying with the same club, how long/short a time I stay in one place will depend on what events happens in the game. This way I have potentially lots of choices, and could end up anywhere.

[Brian Swartz]

THE JOB SEARCH

Or, a journey of a thousand miles begins because the person starting out was too much of an idiot to not just stay at home and never try in the first place. Or, the search for a homo sapien idiotic enough to hire me. Pick your poison.

I'll be using the following measure to track my progress:

Professional Approval(Current Rep): 15%. Sunday League starts out at 27-30%, depending on how you set up the game.
Local Name Recognition(Home Rep): 24%
Global Name Recognition(World Rep): 0%

The journey begins in the US, January 14, 2013. I'm 35. There are currently 77 head coach openings all over the world. I apply to them all, and several more during the initial interview process. This is only because they wouldn't let me apply for anything with less responsibility. Like say, equipment manager or waterboy, for which my experience is probably still insufficient.

I would eventually interview with nine clubs, most of them in Asia. Naturally the power centers of football had more fertile fields of home-grown, established coaches to choose from. Got a couple offers but their contracts would run out before the season began late in the year -- I needed something that would let me at least prove myself before the deadline. I invariably emphasized two things in the interview process that are central to my footballing philosophy. First, it's a player's game -- I'm not going to implement a specific system that a chairman, president, or tycoon wants to run. I would have my players in the positions needed for them to be successful, and I didn't much care how entertaining that was to anybody. Secondly, that I understood the financial side of a club was a matter for the board of directors, and not for me. My job was to put a competitive squad on the pitch, end of story.

I went on holiday, applying for every last job that came up. It wasn't much of a holiday really, just application after application followed by(when I was lucky) form letters suggesting that I should be committed for thinking they'd spit on me if my hair was on fire. Persistence pays off they say. It sure didn't at first. My fingers got so worn out that I began to thrw mi hndz up in dizgusst at mi lzoy typgni skilzzzz.

July 2, 2013 -- Finally I got a bite that meant something. It was on the other side of the world, a completely different culture, in decidedly suboptimal circumstances, but beggars can't be choosers, so ...

I'm headed to Indonesia. Specifically, to Persigubin Gunung Bitang in the Indonesian First Division, Group D. Inasmuch as their previous job search failed(presumably hiring me won out over dragging the bottom of the river by virtue of a coin flip), they are willing to give me a year-long contract for 4.5m rupiah's per week. At the present exchange rate of 10.3k rupiah's per dollar, that's the equivalent of about $437 weekly. That's not bad pay at all for somebody whose family barely admits they have heard of. In the interests of 'keeping it real', I'll be using the local currency, in this case rupiahs. Worth keeping in mind since the amounts sound like an awful lot until you do the conversions.

[Brian Swartz]

I'm sure most of you have the Indonesian domestic football structure committed to memory(who wouldn't), but being the neophyte that I am I had to look a few things up.

INDONESIAN DOMESTIC STRUCTURE

Top Tier: Super League(22 clubs, 24th-ranked domestic league in Asia). The top two qualify for something called the Asian Confederation Cup, the bottom four are relegated to ...

Second Tier: Premier Division(48 compete in three groups of 16. 28th in Asia). Top two in each group qualify for Second Phase, a playoff system to determine who gets promoted to the Super League. The bottom two in each group have the ingnominy of playing the next season in ...

Third Tier: First Division. Ah, that's where I'm headed. First Division sucks a lot more, 80th in Asia. Another 48 clubs here, divided into four groups of in this case 12 each. Similar to the level above, the top pair in each group are promoted while the bottom pair in each group are relegated ... except there is an asterisk there. Two the groups, C and D(we're in the latter) only have one club relegated to the predictably named Second Division. Why, I don't know. But I'll take the gift as it gives us more room to stay in the division.

Still, this makes me the head man at one of the top 118 clubs in Indonesia, right? Well, not so much. To begin with, Indonesian football exists, but there isn't much else positive you can say about it. The national team is presently ranked near the bottom among the world's competitors. Worse yet, while there is not a single First Division club that is more lowly-regarded than Persigubin, there are two dozen from Second Division that are considered better than us as well.

Put it all together, and I am now responsible for the 144th-best club in the 170th-ranked country(out of 209). If you can't go up from there, I don't know where you can go up from.

Persigubin Club Facts

Founded in 2003, they are heading into their 11th season of play -- there's not a lot of history here. Their greatest claim to fame was making the Second Phase in 2010, only to finish last in their group and stay in the division. They are a fully-professional club, but have only a Local reputation due to their lack of actually accomplishing anything, ever, and short history of existence.

Moreover, we have a financial rating of 'Insecure', which is nice way of saying we're losing money hand over fist with no end in sight.

Wage Budget: 34.06M/wk., of which 33.76m is presently committed. There's not a lot of wiggle room.
Transfer Budget: none
Value: 50M
Balance: 201.3M debt
Sponsorships: General 297.0M, uniform 92.83M.
Stadium: The club is so new they haven't bothered to name it, and there's no information on it(blank Facilities tab).
Season Tickets: 62
Scouting Range: Southeast Asia, plus Cameroon, Liberia, South Korea, and Brazil. This is all rather hilarious considering the First Division requires that all registered players for league matches be Indonesian. Even if I signed someone from those other countries, they wouldn't be able to play.

Board Expectations

First Division -- Mid-table
Indonesian Cup -- 'Be competitive', whatever that means. They've made it clear they won't be judging us on the Cup, but want the focus soley on league play.

STAFF

President -- Wayhu Fadli
Assistant Coach -- Purba Jeffery Bob(you can't make these things up), 52 yo, very high marks in adaptability, determination, working with youngsters. 550k
Head of Youth Development -- Deni Saputro(500k, 41). Amazing at working with youngsters. Problem is, except for some minor ability in defense, he can't really teach them to do much of anything. So they'll listen to him tell them all he knows, and then when he's done that, they'll pretty much be the same as they already were. Super. Not to mention that we don't actually HAVE any youngsters for him to teach ...
Head Physio -- Surya Matui(500k, 29) -- Barely enough skill to deserve the title of physio.
Chief Scout -- Agung Sukma(35, 500k). He's the worst I've ever seen, and I've seen me some crappy scouts. Heck, I might be almost as good as this guy ... yep, he's really THAT bad.

National Teams

USA -- I still want to keep tabs on how we're doing back in the states, even though I hope I don't see it again anytime soon. They're up to 16th, an impressive 20 spots better than at the beginning of the year, and with two games left in the North American group have qualified for the World Cup. So far, so good.

Indonesia -- Here, they didn't come close, knocked out early in Asian qualifying. There's nothing to look forward to until the AFF Championship at the end of next year.

[mrtourette]

A good read so far, looking forward to more.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Assistant Coach -- Purba Jeffery Bob(you can't make these things up),

I'm going to take a shot in the dark & guess that "Coach Bob" spent some time working in telephone customer support

[Brian Swartz]

2013/14 players

Keepers

Ferminus(29, 1.4m)
Roni Setia(16, 150k)

Ferminus is solid and serviceable, while Setia is talented enough to be our man of the future. There is a third better than either of them in on trial(Andi Widodo), but we can't afford to give him a contract so he'll be leaving us imminently.

Defense

DC Rial Fitrandi(23, 1.6m)
DC/DR Ben Onisius Benoni Patay(27, 1.3m)
DR Piterius Piter Urwan(30, 1.6m)
DL Ignasius Kasipmabin(35, 900k)
DC Sutiono(25, 9m)

This group looks quite good. I intend to play five at the back fairly often, as they're a lot better than we are in some other areas. Sutiono's contract is ridiculous, over a quarter of our total wage bill, but nobody's trying to sign him right now so we're stuck with it.

Midfield

AMR/MR/MC Patrick Adie(34, 1.3m)
ML/MC Melianus Ningmabin(30, 1.6m)
MC Frans Yarangga(26, 1.3m)

Yarangga is the best of the group but the best we can hope here is that the midfield doesn't embarrass itself. There's no backups or money to sign any, so if injuries crop up we'll be in a world of hurt.

Attackers

AMC/ST Fabian Yogi(29, 3.75m)
AMC/ST Yustinus Oropka(28, 1.6m)
AMC/ST Pamungkas Yuli Sutanto(16, 150k)
ST Engel Ewangin(36, 3.5m)
ST Decky Uropmabin(24, 1.4m)

Yogi is considered the best player on the team, Ewangin is still good despite his age, and Uropmabin makes a solid third wheel. Sutanto is thought to be the most talented player on the squad, the only one we think is good enough to play in the Premier Division someday.

OVERVIEW

15 players makes for a pretty bare squad, but money being as tight as it is we'll have to suffer through. We'll play either a 5-3-1-1 or 4-3-1-2 depending on circumstances, and emphasize a direct, counterattacking style as a necessity given our complete inability to pass well enough for any kind of slow-building attack to work.

[Brian Swartz]

PRESEASON

We announce a 900M turnover for the last fiscal year, and a loss of 280M(32%).

8.5 -- AMC/ST Yustinus Oropka is going to be out until a good way into the season, 3-4 months from now with knee tendonitis. That leaves us with just 14 players ....

8.21 -- The board announces they are unable to find suitable parent club. They want us to sell players to make money and ease our financial pressure. Lol. We have nobody anyone wants, and if we did, we have 15 freaking players on contract. Hard enough putting a team on the pitch as it is. Fughedaboudit.

9.2 -- We are considerably screwed. Our best player and the linchpin of our attack, AMC Fabian Yogi, will be out 2-3 months with fractured ribs from a training session. That means he'll miss the first few matches of the season. We'll start the year with two of the three players at AMC injured, only young Sutanto able to carry the torch.

9.5 -- Torn hamstring during a friendly for MR Patrick Adie. He'll miss 3-4 months, and we don't have anyone who can credibly take his spot. In the interim, that will be a big hole in our squad.

We are down to 12 healthy players, and the season begins in a month.

9.10 -- ST Engel Ewangin suffered a fractured wrist(2 months). Anybody else goes down, and we won't be able to so much as field a starting 11.

9.18 -- Sutanto twisted an ankle in training(6-8 weeks). That's 5 of 15 players out now, we'll be going with 10 for a while.

9.30 -- The injuries continue to mount, with DR Piter Urwan now being out about 2 months with a hernia. To add to this, Urwan is our team captain.

OCTOBER BOARD REVIEW

A loss of 105M was recorded, which will likely be made worse by the fact that backup GK Roni Setia has turned 17 and automatically has been given a pro contract (1M per week). Expenses decreased by 37M but income by 50M.

October 2 -- We reject a bid for one of our remaining defenders on the grounds that it's probably not a real good idea to go into my first-ever competitive match with only eight active players. There wasn't any money anyway, just a 25% next-sale clause down the line.

October 6 -- 65 season tickets were sold this year, up three from before I got here.

October 7 -- ST Decky Uropmabin twisted an ankle(6-8 weeks). This is getting comical(and ridiculous). 8 healthy, 7 injured now, and less than a week till our first match.

October 11 -- A disappointing although now-irrelevant draw with Canada(1-1) for USA leaves them two points in front of Costa Rica ahead of their finale in four days time.

We open the season at home in two days time ...

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by mrtourette

A good read so far, looking forward to more.

Thanks for saying so!

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I'm going to take a shot in the dark & guess that "Coach Bob" spent some time working in telephone customer support

This cannot be completely discounted :P

[Brian Swartz]

** Actual game date as of now is December 6, 2016, so I'm almost three and a half years 'behind'. I'm planning on posting in fairly rapid-fire fashion for a while so that I can close the gap to current events.

October 13 vs. Persibas, we're favored 5-4.

I was frankly unsure of how the rules worked on this, but we are apparently allowed to scrounge up emergency players from local amateur clubs to fill out our squad in the event of ridiculous extremes like this. Even with a 'full eleven', I still ordered a very defensive approach with so many of our regulars out. Starting in a week or two, we expect to see the first players back, but until then ... the six competent outfield players we have are in defense and midfield, none of them natural attackers, so our only real hope is a 0-0 draw.

We're picked to lose despite the official line, due to the absence of our attacking players(specifically Yogi and Ewangin). This is a complete 'duh' moment for me.

It was such a depressing thing, after all the work to put in a plan to give us a chance to succeed, and then get out there on the pitch and realize that none of it had much chance to work today. It's like trying to play on one leg, frankly. Just a horrible feeling, but we had to do what we could and make the best of it, no other choice really.

And then there were the fans, who didn't come out here to see us turn turtle and stall at every opportunity -- but that was what we needed to do to have any chance of a result.

14' -- Shockingly, after the first couple of minutes we did very well to disrupt their attempts at a short passing, possession style game, surrendering nothing. A straight-on shot from just outside the area by one of our 'guys off the street' was well-placed, and it took a great effort by their keeper Sangra to push it wide. The fact that it was the first shot of any kind taken in this match shows that so far, our strategy is working.

25' -- One of their players had the ball at the corner of the six-yard box, but he was well bracketed by Fitriandi and Sutiono, both of whom were playing well today. He went down, and they called a penalty!! We complain, but to no avail. Ariyanto stepped up for the try and converted it, his first-ever goal for Peribas. 0-1. In the whole of the pre-season, a dozen friendlies I think it was, we were never once whistled for a penalty ... and we get one here.

I had no choice. I went to a less conservative counter-attacking strategy and ordered our defensive line higher up the pitch ... we had to try to create more chances now that we were behind.

41' -- We get a freekick, straight on just outside the area, with Persibas screaming it was a dive. Oh, the irony! Yarangga pushes it wide right and high though, so it comes to nothing.

HT -- Still down 0-1, even though we've outshot them 7-1. Most of ours have been speculative long-range efforts, but for my money they didn't earn the one they've gotten. We deserve at least a draw here, but we need a break to get it now.


48' -- A floating shot has a chance to sneak in for us, but it's off the crossbar.

51' -- A nigh-unbelievable sequence down in our end. They get a freekick, intercept our clearance and center again. A point-blank volley is blocked by Ferminus, then a straight-on floater from just outside the area hits the crossbar, and Batu(whose volley was blocked initially) volleys it in easily from right in front!! And .... it's disallowed on an offside call anyway.

We're not dead yet. That was more pressure in 20 seconds than they've put on us the rest of the match combined.

They controlled the action more and more from there on, not getting in a bunch of shots but dictating play and breaking up our counterattacks before they rightly were able to begin most times.

71' -- Sangra illadvisedly snags a ball and goes over the line to give us the first of a pair of corners, we get a weak long-range header on the second which is easily saved, and it's time to go for broke a little. I tell the guys to press harder for the equalizer, losing by two isn't going to hurt much more than losing by one. We're the fresher, more well-conditioned squad ... maybe they'll make a mistake. Or maybe we will, but we have to take that chance.

FT -- We lose 1-0 after never really getting anything going at the end. Shots were even at 11, we had 51% possession ... they were probably a bit better but it all came down to that stupid penalty in the first half. A bad call, but we never should have given them the chance to make it, they had almost no chance to score and were completely bracketed by our two best defenders. Tough loss, and not a good omen to start off my career.

Late in the match, DR Ben Onisius Benoni Patay went down during a tackle and was diagnosed afterwards with a dead leg(6-8 days). The hits just keep on coming. We now have more players injured than we do healthy. At least this one won't be long-term.

[Brian Swartz]

October 15 -- Costa Rica thumps the US in an embarassing 3-0 rout to take the top spot in North American Qualifying. USA finished second, one point behind, and Mexico is 5 back in third.

October 19 @ Persipon(1-0-0). They are 5-4 favorites, while some are picking a draw as the most likely result. I'd take that in a second, but with our injury issues it's unlikely. Same defense-oriented strategy.

15' -- One of our amateur fill-ins had a decent angled shot that went well wide, best chance of the match so far. It's been defensive and dull, the Persipon controlling more than we permitted last match as they've been sending seven men into the attack. So far we haven't given them anything dangerous.

29' -- We go to a tighter marking scheme as it's looking a little too easy for them to get off shots in our zone. A little more pressure should help, though we've done well keeping in front of them and blocking most of their attempts so far.

50' -- Our first chance in what seems ages sees a shot blasted from about 12 yards on a pretty tough angle get blocked away by their keeper.

53' -- A free kick gives them a great look at a close angled header from the left side, but it's misdirected into the side of the net.

With both teams looking for that one break that would send them to victory, the flow of the match broke down with a series of fouls. Physically, Persipon were getting the worse end of it with a couple players forced out with injuries.

62' -- Basri came wide open for them at the short post on a corner, and despite our efforts all day long we now trail 1-0.

67' -- A long-distance prayer hits the left post.

77' -- A very nice lead pass sets up Basri right in front, but Ferminus somehow manages to block it.

90' -- On the second of back-to-back corners, the ball squirts free right in the goal mouth, but Ferminus is first to it and nothing comes of it.

FT -- Another 1-0 loss in a match we could well have had a draw out of, and Persipon has won both of their contests by that count so far to put themselves among the leaders.

Later that day, DR Patay returned to full training, shrinking our injury list for the first time as no new medical issues resulted from the match thankfully.

[Brian Swartz]

10.27 @ Persatu(0-1-1). Our hosts are slight 6-4 favorites, and this match features the only two sides who have yet to score through their first pair of matches in league play. We have Sutanto back, and the youngster will start at AMC. Ironically, this expected borefest is the first of three televised matches we have for the year.

2' -- We got a good opportunity with, of all people, Sefia(backup GK) setting up one of the amateurs for an open angled shot, but it was blocked out for a corner. After bouncing around, the ball came to Sutanto just outside the box, he went for the far angle and hit the post. A couple decent chances right away, but we get nothing from them.

HT -- We're up in shots 8-2 but no good chances really for either
side.


67' -- Near disaster as Ferminus mishandles a floating off-target cross, and has to leap a second time to tip it over the bar for a corner. That one nearly got away from him for a fluke goal.

68' -- Sutanto sets up Setia who hits the side of the net only. A good example of the kind of rush that would likely end up with a score if we had Yogi et. al. out there, but our makeshift lineup just doesn't have the skills to consistently produce good opportunities or convert them when they present themselves.

79' -- With Persatu stepping up the pressure the last several minutes and our rushes producing nothing remotely hopeful on the other end, I switch to a defensive posture in order to not give up anything cheap at the finish here. I'll take a point on the road under the circumstances.

81' -- A blast from about 17 yards out hits the crossbar, our best look at their goal in over an hour.

89' -- Sutanto sets up an open header, less than 10 yards out in front -- it's weakly directed well wide left. *grumblegrumble*

FT -- It stays scoreless to the end, despite a 21-6 edge in shots. It's clear to see why Persatu hasn't scored yet, their attackers aren't much better than our scrubs. Sutiono is named man of the match for his work in defense.

It was also Sutanto's professional debut today.

[Brian Swartz]

October Review

A pair of 1-0 defeats and a scoreless draw form a very uninspired first month, but there's the promise of better things to come as we get healthier. Based on what I've seen there's a chance for us to make a real move upwards in the standings if we can get most of the guys back and playing well together.

We have five matches in November, three of them at home. We need to pick up some points and get a sense of what we have, the season will be over a third completed by month's end and if we don't have any more significant injuries we'll be almost completely healthy by then.

The board continues to be satisfied, and in particular pleased with lockerroom atmosphere and to a less extent the control exercised over the budget. The fans are concerned by our home loss that opened the year, with poor performances by multiple players, and the 'less than exciting'(that's a nice way of putting it) style of football we've played.

We lost 152M, with income basically staying the same and expenses increasing. Persigubin is falling apart financially.

[Brian Swartz]

11.2 vs. Persewar(1-0-2) -- We're slight favorites(5-4), and with our injured list reduced to three including the recent returns of Fabian Yogi and Engel Ewangin, I like our chances of coming away with at least a draw. We'll also get our first look at Yustinus Oropka, who has been injured since I got here in July.

Those three will fill the attacking roles, and all of them are far from being match fit so at best we'll face a growing process this month, but there is a sense of hope that we can start to play like we are able soon.

Recently promoted Persewar play a 3-5-2, aiming to control possession, and their lone win is an impressive 3-0 victory over the Persibas club that beat us in our first match.

8' -- An even back-and-forth start with both teams looking like they have the capability to put multiple goals on the board. We had the first chance with Yogi finding Ningmabin on the left side for an angled shot just inside the area, but his howler of a volley attempt was tipped over. Disappointing, but not for long as on the ensuing corner Yogi volleyed it from 15 yards out and nobody had a chance and getting that one! Sure didn't take long for our best player to make his presence felt, and we get our first goal and first lead of the year, 1-0!!

15' -- Just a few minutes later, Yogi led Ewangin with what looked like a great chance for a one-on-one, but they caught him just in time. So Ewangin laid it off a few feet to the right, where Oropka placed it in the left side of the net for a second score! 2-0, and I'm really impressed by our skill on the attack right now.

26' -- They get a good luck at the goal for the first time on the counter, but try to get too cute with a pushed shot towards the left side and Ferminus is able to block it away. It was Irawan, who has shown a lot of skill attacking on the right wing except when it comes time to actually cross or shoot. He's an athlete, but thankfully doesn't appear to have the technical skills to back it up.

35' -- Falaq gets behind our defense with a nice lead pass, and easily places past Ferminus. Our lead is down to 2-1 ... no time to get complacent.

HT -- We're up a goal, but it looks like we're getting tired and they've gotten the better of the past 20 minutes or so by a bit. I switch to a counter mentality, telling the defense to drop deeper and make sure we don't give up anything cheap. We're not fit enough to play a whole high-quality match yet, but I want to hold on to what we've already done today. If we can keep them to just four shots again like we did in the first half, I like our chances to get our first league win.

Our defense held very solid and they basically got nothing from their 5-wide control of the midfield, but a couple long close misses and a bunch of offside calls on our end wasn't much better production.


59' -- Irawan got loose in the area, 10 yards or just a bit more on the right side, and Ferminus did very well to keep the game from being tied on his blast. Fitrandi made his presence felt clearing out the ensuing corner.

70' -- We go more defensive with the 5-3-1-1, giving Setia a bit more outfield time in order to get Yogi out -- he's been beyond exhausted for about 15 minutes now. Nearly another great chance before we could get the sub in, but Ewangin was tripped up in the area before he could get it off, no call.

73' -- Ningmabin gets a fairly rare shot, and blasts it but right at Lubis.

76' -- A good clearance by Patay ends another potential threat but he comes up hobbling.

78' -- A freekick just outside the area is a solid chance for an insurance goal, but Ewangin sends it high.

86' -- A mishandled ball by their keeper almost gifts us a goal, but Ningmabin's 22-yd floater is wide left.

91' -- An incredible cross from halfway to midfield finds Mardinsyah at the corner of the box, with the hobbling Patay a couple steps behind. He easily heads it in, and we're tied at 2-all! Absolutely freaking unreal

92' -- Ewangin blasts one well high and wide. Another one a minute later from almost 40 yards is nowhere close.

FT -- A 2-2 draw, and that injury-time goal cost us a win and two points. I have a feeling that may well come back to haunt us, but with three players still out hurt and others working there way back into playing shape, it's hard to fault the team. It's still a gut-shot though. We outshot them 19-7, and after the way this one started, up 2-0 at home after 15 minutes, it's a tough pill to swallow.

Fabian Yogi(1 goal) is named man of the match. Patay at least has no permanent injury. The fans were pleased with the match and with the exciting style of soccer played. They are far happier about it than I am, two more minutes and we'd have been well on our way to climbing back into the middle of the table after the disastrous start to the season we've had. As it is, we're still tied for last.

[Brian Swartz]

November 5 -- So much for the good news on Patay. He overexerted himself during weight training and managed to strain his wrist. He's expected to miss two weeks.

I was thinking of scheduling a friendly during our break till the next match to get some people back to fitness faster, but with this latest setback we are still so thin that I decided against it.

November 6 -- One out, one in. Piterius Piter Urwan is back from his hernia recovery and he'll take Patay's place on the right of the defensive line for the next couple of matches.

November 10 @ Persinab(2-0-2). Persinab has bigger injuries than we do at the moment, as they'll be missing five players. They are slightly favored and play a 4-4-2, currently riding high after winning their last two games without conceding a goal. We'll look to be solid defensively and counterattack quickly in the early going.

It was easy to see why they are on a streak of not conceding goals early, they are good in the air and seem to anticipate the action on both ends of the pitch better than any of the other clubs we've faced so far. Just a real good solid club.

On the attack, they don't seem to have a real good sense of things, particularly in constant offsides calls. Of course, they do have a lot of injuries, so they are probably not using their top guys there.

18' -- It looked like we were starting to figure them out a bit. After a missplaced, seriously spinning cross-pitch pass went out form them, we took possession, and Sutanto found Yogi in the area on the right in-between two defenders. He passed up a decent shot to get a great one, leading Ewangin beautifully right in front as his striker partner got behind his man and ran onto it with a full head of steam. The shot was blasted home from 10 yards, no chance at all for the keeper, and we go in front on the road 1-0!! An impressive attacking move, and Persinab's defensive streak is gone.

19' -- It didn't last long at all. Yoweni snatched a floating cross in the middle 25 yards out, as Sutiono misjudged the ball. He dribbled straight in and showed impressive touch in a perfect low lob over Ferminus's head, well under the bar and well over his half-hearted attempt to jump for it. Nothing he could have done. 1-1, and we're even again. It's Yoweni's fourth goal of the year already, so we're hardly the first team he's victimized, but it was quite disheartening to have our lead last no more than a minute and a half.

24' -- Yogi was double-teamed and taken down, and it looks like he hurt something but can probably continue. The last think we need is for him to get injured again ...

27' -- Yoweni finds Mansoben in front with a clear blast from about 13 yards, but it's right at Ferminus. They're controlling possession almost completely, and I'm thinking seriously about going to defensive mode to try and hold them down. If we had our fifth defender available, I'd put them in but with Patay injured we don't have that option.

29' -- Kasipmabin floats in a great freekick from almost midfield, and Oropka heads it home inside the box at the right post! But it's disallowed, they say he pushed one of the defenders to get free! That was Pigay, the same guy who took out Yogi's legs a few minutes ago.

I hate him. Oh, how I hate him. But judging from the reaction of the players who were closer to the play, it's probably an accurate call. Still, I thought we were back in front, and it was one heck of a kick and finish anyway. Blast!

33' -- Yogi loops one to Ewangin over the middle, who had gotten a couple steps inside his defender. Their keeper came out, but couldn't cut down the angle fast enough and the ball zipped inside the left post! A second assist for Yogi, a second score for Ewangin, and we're back in front 2-1!! What a game this has been already!!!

39' -- Tebay, who assisted on their first goal, loops in a deep cross to Mansoben who is behind our defense. He puts a soft header beautifully over our keeper, and we're dead-even again!! That time it was Fitriandi defending, and he didn't react nearly quickly enough. We had two guys right on Tebay though and he put that pass right on the money, an incredible play. Gotta be impressed with that, and it's 2-2.

44' -- A nice passing play from Oropka to Sutanto to Yogi sets up a fairly close shot, but it's an awfully sharp angle and into the side of the net.

HT -- Still 2-2, they've controlled possession, beat us soundly in the air, but the individual skills of Ewangin and Yogi have us right there with them. For now. It feels like the other shoe is about to drop, especially with Yogi laboring -- we might be able to get about 10-15 min. more out of him but that'll be it, and if we aren't back in front by then it'll be very hard to save the match.

I try to fire the guys up by being enthusiastic about what they've done so far, it has been excellent after all. They seemed to respond well for the most part, we'll see if we can keep pushing in the conclusion here. With just nine combined shots for the game, the finishers on both sides have been really outstanding.


49' -- Ewangin gets a crack from 22 yards out, tries to go up high but needed some angle on that, Pakage jumps and snares it easily.

56' -- Time to pull Yogi. Setia will come on at MR, giving us Oropka, Sutanto, and Ewangin up front. I hope to heck Yogi's ... whatever it is ... isn't serious.

59' -- They make another sub after missing a long free kick, then a try by Mansoben is blocked, Yoweni gets in a good try at an angle volley but Ferminus is equal to the task.

Still another half-hour to go. I'm not sure we can hold them.

62' -- Pigay takes down Setia, no doubt trying to intimidate the young keeper playing vastly out of position. He's shown a yellow card -- couldn't happen to a better guy.

63' -- Yoweni takes a pass down the right side, somehow finds a trailing midfielder who blasts one from 15 yards, just over the upper right corner of the net cage. That was a dangerous looking and impressive play, I'm pleased they didn't convert.

64' -- Some nice touch passes between Sutanto and Oropkadown at the other end, a ball is fed ahead for Ewangin to run onto ... but their defender slides and tackles the ball away at the last second. Almost had something going there.

69' -- A good-looking rush but their defense does just enough to prevent us from getting a shot off, had a couple of near-attempts from about 18 yards straight on before they intervened.

70' -- The perenially-aggressive Yarangga picks up a yellow for us. I'm forced to tell him to back off, the last thing we need is to get someone sent off at the end of this match.

With nobody seeming to have much of an advantadge at the moment, I decide to stick with our approach the rest of the way. They are tiring and I think we had good chances to hold the draw.

75' -- A long freekick by Kasipmabin is nearly a fluke goal, instead resulting in an eventless corner.

77' -- They are called for offside on what would otherwhise have been a sure goal. Swallowed my throat there for a sec.

79' -- A bad header gifts them a corner, which with their aerial ability is no small cause for concern. Ferminus manages to punch the ball out though.

82' -- A collision at midfield(Sutanto and two Persinab defenders) typified the finish to this game. It left all three players on the ground, dazed for a moment, but the match continued, no foul called. Good hustle on both sides, some great individual efforts and a lot of physical play, leading up to not much of anything.

87' -- Ewangin pushes down the left side of the area, trying to bait the keeper his way before lofting a cross over to Sutanto. It was a good idea, but didn't come close to working as Pakage didn't fully commit and easily retreated to grab the slow pass.

90' -- Fitrandi gets back just in time to block a try by Yoweni out, and the corner is caught by Ferminus. Looks like that was the last chance.

92' -- Or not. They get Tebay a look inside the area and Ferminus just manages to turn it aside. Another corner for them and I can barely watch ... Urwan gets there first at the far post ... they head it back towards the goal ... and we finally clear it. Phew!

93' -- Another corner. Would this match just end already? Tebay hits it ... Urwan is there again ... and it's finally over.

FT -- 2-2, a heart-stopping draw, and one we were on the short end of a bit so I'll take it.


Top honors went to Engel Ewangin for his two goals, with Yogi's pair of assists contributing to a solid day for him. He was determined to be fine after the match, which was a great relief.

Including the last two matches of the previous year(not my fault of course), we have set a new club record: six without a win. There are rumblings in the press about how this year is going to be a disappointment if we don't get victories soon. They're not wrong, but it's not time to panic five matches in. We have three more this month and are gradually getting healthier all the time. With two of them at home, if we haven't pulled out a win by then, we can start panicking at that point with my blessing

[Brian Swartz]

November 12 -- ST Decky Uropmabin is back training now and ready for action.

November 16 vs. Persenga(1-2-2) We're slight favorites back at home, Persenga is not off to a good start(recently promoted), and we are going to be fielding our top attacking trio of Yogi, Ewangin, and Upromabin for the first time this year. If we're going to grab a victory, there's not going to be a better chance for it.

6' -- That didn't last long. Uropmabin went down with nobody near him, and had to be replaced by Sutanto.

They were able to frustrate all our attacking moves early on by congesting the box and preventing us from getting any kind of look at the goal, but we definitely looked the more dangerous team.

12' -- A decent look for Sutanto from about 16 yards or so, but it was fairly weak and right at the keeper.

18' -- They get a header from a corner but it's way high. Yogi does not look sharp today so far.

20' -- We're completely dominating the game, but some lax and out-of-position defense gifts them a 10-yd angled shot which easily beats Ferminus. Now we trail 1-0. This match has been disastrous so far.

24' -- Yogi to Ewangin back to Yogi for a clear shot from 15 yards, but it's right at the keeper. Those are usually money in the bank for him.

26' -- They foul Ewangin on the edge of the area, and it's a yellow card! Yarangga takes the free kick, and puts it just inside the left post, nobody was close enough to try to make a play on that. It's his first goal of the year, and we're even at 1-all.

HT -- Tied 1-1 still, not a whole lot of shots either way. Our anticipation, teamwork in attack, and control of the ball has been the worst in the last few matches. I tell the guys I expect better in the second half and that seemed to fire them up, normally I take a positive approach but I just have the sense they need a kick in the behind today.


55' -- They get a long header, straight on but it's right at Ferminus.

59' -- Urwan gets assessed a yellow. We're playing a bit frustrated and losing most of the possession battles, so I switch to counterattacking. Lets at least not blow this by giving up another cheap one.

63' -- A foul and a yellow for Fitriandi just outside the area. It's getting testy out there and we're making almost all of the mistakes right now. From almost exactly the same spot as we scored our freekick in the first half, they miss wildly to the right.

64' -- Back the other way, Ningmabin crosses and Ewangin is there just inside the box, his header is easily punched past the keeper and we take the lead! Ewangin just ran between their defenders who just stood there and didn't react to the cross at all basically, unbelievable. 2-1

66' -- Ewangin challenges for a ball at midfield and goes down injured. That's just what we need. Setia will have to come on and Sutanto goes up front to replace our striker. We've gotten both strikers hurt today ...

73' -- Looks like we're about to be a walking medical ward again. Sutiono goes down near midfield after challenging for a ball.

75' -- A nice run up the left by Ningmabin, who centers for Oropka ... he pushed it wide right. That was a good chance to put this match away there.

76' -- We work it back in, Ningmabin to Sutanto, who blasts a volley from the edge of the box ... blocked, but it's right back to him and this time he hits for an angled goal! That's his first tally, and up 3-1 now, we'll just try to defend and get out of this match without losing any more players.

It's like Persenga has stopped playing defense the last bit here, we haven't done anything special they've just lost focus. I'll take it, whatever the reason.

77' -- Another angled look for Sutanto is high and wide.

80' -- The floodgates open, a good attack again and this time Oropka is in front for the score ... but they disallow this one, calling him offside.

81' -- As they try to press and get back into this one, one of their attackers trips Sutiono and gets himself a yellow. Lots of cards being handed out today, that's the fourth.

83' -- Just hideous lack of coverage defensively again, they chip one in on the short angle from the corner of the box. After making a couple of good interceptions recently, Fitriandi was way out of position there. It's 3-2, and it's not over yet.

85' -- Oropka drives one wide from 23 yards out.

FT -- The cheapest goals I've seen this year, both scoring and conceding, happened today with some big lapses on both sides. But we get that elusive first win of my career here 3-2! Frans Yarangga earned player of the match and was big with the free-kick equalizer, Ewangin's goal a minute before he got hurt gave us the lead, and Ningmabin had the best half I've seen him play in the second half, playing a key role in our last two scores.

Surprisingly, none of our match injuries are expected to keep anyone out as all got positive reports from the physio. We'll have Patay back in a couple of days as well, leaving just MR Patrick Adie who still has a couple weeks yet on the injured list.

[Brian Swartz]

November 17 -- Assistant coach Bob informs me that Ferminus has been showing great progress and we now consider him to be a solid keeper for the level of competition we face here in the First Division. As we've conceded multiple goals in three straight matches, we'll need his work as the season rolls along.

November 22 -- A big blow for us as Ferminus fell and sprained an ankle during training. He's expected to miss 2 months. Roni Setia will get a chance to show his stuff, but he's not half the keeper Ferminus us at this point in his career.

November 23 @ Yakuhimo FC(2-1-3). Our recent play(unbeaten in our last four) has been noticed by the oddsmakers who have us down as 7-4 favorites on the road. Without Ferminus in goal though, we'll play conservatively here with the 5-3-1-1 and a counterattacking strategy. Our hosts have five players out and have lost 3 of 4.

2' -- Uropmabin is tripped right at the corner of the area, but his freekick is way off the mark.

5' -- Yogi gets a freekick from the left side, and Ningmabin ends up with a great header opportunity inside the box, but he misses it wide left. Just got too cute with it and took a bad angle. That's a good a scoring chance with a header as you can get, he just blew it.

8' -- Yogi trips up one of their midfielders and draws a yellow card. He rarely fouls, but this puts us in a tight spot. I decide to keep him on.

11' -- They get a header from about 13 yards, a weak effort that Setia grabs easily.

26' -- We blow another point-blank header as Yogi's cross is just a bit far for Ewangin right on the door step. He redirects it, but it's off the left post. The defense has been solid, but that's twice we've just missed inside the box.

29' -- A tough-angle try for Yogi is weak and into the side of the net. We seem to be taking more and more control as the match goes along.

32' -- Two-man game with Ewangin and Yogi ends up with Yogi taking one from 18 yards, it's deflected over by their keeper and they clear the corner without incident.

34' -- Ningmabin to Yogi who floats in another cross for Ewangin, he was almost in the net himself when he put this one home! We take the lead 1-0!! That time there was nothing whatsoever wrong with Yogi's cross, far post opposite the keeper and in between the defenders, great execution.

46' -- Just before the halftime whistle, Alma gets behind Fitriandi after a good lead pass and boots it past Setia from just outside the box. We're tied at 1, and we're making a darn depressing habit of giving up equalizers not long after we score.

HT -- 1-1. We've defended well for the most part only because of numbers, none of them are having a particularly good day back there. We've been a little better in the air, but with the two headers we missed, haven't been able to take full advantadge of it. We need a quick score to get back in front here.


What we got instead was a lot of back-and-forth action in the midfield, consistent turnovers both ways.

54' -- Roni Setia did something to himself on a routine clearance, but he'll be able to stay on. He's our only keeper right now, we're dead if something happens to him.

59' -- A wild sequence nearly cost us. Setia mishandled a cross, batting it up in the air. Fitrandi headed it off the line, but it ended up at the feet of Mamoribo who popped one over the bar from about 14 yards out on the right side. That could easily have been trouble.

61' -- Ningmabin floats in a cross that's just too far for Ewangin to get to. He was open, but couldn't get there.

63' -- Oropka in for Yogi as he's pretty beaten up following his latest collision. The yellow earlier also played into the call to pull him now, I don't need someone getting sent off due to a fatigue-prompted mistake. This is essentially an admission that we're playing to hold the draw now.

Before we can get him off, Kepno pulls the trigger on a blast from the left side of the area, thankfully missing it.

67' -- They get an extreme-angle try in the box, we block it out for a corner. Sutiono clears it out.

73' -- Sutanto is on for Uropmabin, our final sub and purely a fresh-legs move.

88' -- Ewangin leads Oropka into the area ... great chance at a one-on-one but the pass was just a hair too hard and their keeper got their first.

92' -- A completely idiotic deflection by their keeper Aziz hands us a free corner opportunity, but we get nothing out of it.

FT -- 1-1 draw. It was an evenly played match, but we should have stolen it. Blowing those two early headers cost us that opportunity. Engel Ewangin(our lone goal) was named player of the match, while aside from a solid game by Urwan, our defense had a bad outing all the way across.

Setia has a sprained wrist and will miss 2 weeks. That means we don't have a keeper for that duration, and we'll have to play conservatively, scrap and claw for anything we can get.

[Brian Swartz]

NOVEMBER REVIEW

** Yarangga's free kick is 3rd place in First Division goals of the month.

The board continues to be pleased, particularly with the positive team atmosphere. They are also taking note of the good control over salaries and the fact that we are presently on course for a mid-table finish in Group D of the First Division.

The fans main complaint is our 1-0 loss to Persibas at home. That was the opener, a month and a half ago, that had the ridiculous fluke penalty call. It's understandable why it's considered a bad loss -- Persibas is 11th right now, and dead last in goal differential -- but for goodness sake, things happen and you have to get over bad events like that. I'm a lot more annoyed at the last-minute goals we are allowing personally.

GROUP D STANDINGS

Persemalra(19 pts, +9)
Persinab(16 pts, +10)
Persipon(14 pts, +4)*
Persebangga(14 pts, +3)*
Penajam(13 pts, +4)
PSKT(9 pts, -1)*
Yahukimo FC(8 pts, -2)*
Persenga(8 pts, -6)
Persigubin(7 pts, -1)*
Persewar(7 pts, -3)*
Persibas(7 pts, -9)
Persatu(2 pts, -8)

* indicates those clubs that have only played seven matches and may move up after their next match; the others have played eight.

The only team on a better streak than us right now is Persinab -- they haven't lost in six matches, and the only one of those they didn't win outright is that disgusting 2-2 draw against us when they scored at the end to tie it. Persatu has a virtual lock on the relegation spot unless they start improving: they've lost five straight since our scoreless match with them.

Worst-case scenario if we lose today, we are 5 points up the relegation spot and 9 points out of Second Phase qualification(second place). The big challenge for us right now is to try and not sink all the way to the bottom while Ferminus is out. We expect him to be back in mid-February, six league matches from now. Until then, our attacking players are going to be on an island without a lot of help as we are forced to play conservatively and give our defense all the cover we can. MR Patrick Adie is back now, our best attacking midfielder, and that should help a bit. He has not played since pre-season. Our only injuries right now are to the keepers.

The thing of it is, the way we've played there's no question we have a top-half squad; but we've got ground to make up and it's going to be awfully hard to make it up with those guys out in goal.

And what the heck is with the 'P' obsession?! We have exactly one club in our group that doesn't start with the letter P. I have no problem with alliteration, but I like a little variety as well.

[Brian Swartz]

12.1 vs. PSKT(2-3-2, 6th). We're slightly favored here, but probably shouldn't be with the keeper situation. Decky Uropmabin will go in keeper. The 5-3-1-1 will be standard with us for a while, we'll start conservatively and only loosen things up just a bit if the flow of the match warrants it.

Fortunately, we expect Setia back before our next match, so we just need to find a way to get through today without him.

6' -- Adie is involved in the first scoring opportunity of the match, putting a ball down the right side for Yogi to get, he then centered it to the trailing Yarangga whose shot was right at the keeper, but a solid passing play set up there.

11' -- We've looked fantastic so far, and Yogi got set up at the near corner of the box, but didn't get quite enough angle on the shot and a diving save by Pitoy resulted in a corner. Fitriandi headed it across from right to left for Urwan, but his header went well high. 3 shots, 2 on target, all decent opportunities or better. We've done everything but score in the early going.

20' -- Radinsyah got free in the area for an angled shot, but put it well high. So far we've kept Uropmabin from having to do much of anything.

21' -- Crazy play off a cross after we cleared out a corner. Uropmabin went up for it right at the goal mouth, but tipped it off the crossbar instead. Fitriandi tried to clear but got tangled up in our other defenders. Mardianto pounced on it literally five feet from a score, but thankfully there were so many bodies in the way that it was knocked out for another corner. We dodged a couple of bullets here, and I've got a feeling there will be more before this one's over.

28' -- Adie gets hurt in a midfield collision, but he thinks he can stay on for now.

36' -- We've gotten very little lately -- it's been a droll last 20 minutes or so. Ningmabin gets a cross into Yogi just outside the box, but it's a bit high and he can't get anything on it.

38' -- It's pretty clear Adie isn't going to be able to give us anything much today. He's through, and Oropka comes on.

39' -- Another cross is bobbled by Uropmabin, it goes over the bar but he almost let that one in. We are less fortunate on the corner, as Permana hits a header from just outside the box, straight in front and directs it in the left corner of the net. We're down 1-0, and have no choice but to be a little less conservative and try to get it back. Sutanto comes on to take the keeper spot, Patay heads off and Uropmabin goes up front to aid in the attack.

42' -- A shot by Yogi is blocked out for a corner, which goes to Ewangin but he's tackled immediately before he can get a shot off.

HT -- I tell the guys it's just been a bad-luck day, which is mostly true, it seemed to go over well. This is a different match if we convert one of those early chances.

We were a bit better to start the second half, but not good enough to get anything really substantial as there were too many errant passes.


62' -- Ewanginhits a strong volley from inside the area, but Pitoy makes a nice diving save. That's the second shot he's stopped today that would have been a score against most keepers -- there's a reason he only concedes about one an outing.

67' -- Absolutely incredible. Another fine rush, Yogi to Ewangin to Uropmabin ... and another diving save! We should be winning this match, and we can't even get on the board.

75' -- Yogi gets free, well behind the defense, into the area ... and an amazing sliding tackle from behind by their defender Augustina knocks it out for a corner just as he was about to shoot. We just can't buy anything today, this is ridiculous. We should have 2 goals minimum by now, probably 3.

We throw caution to the wind and try to push forward for the equalizer.

79' -- They work it into scoring position and a lead pass is just a bit hard and Sutanto pounces.

84' -- Uropmabin finds Oropka angling in from the right wing, he hits a good angled try ... and yet another diving save by Pitoy!! We get a corner out of it .. .

85' -- A similar shot by Yogi is weak and wide right.

86' -- Almost another breakaway, this one for Ewangin, but Pitoy picks it up as he arrives.

88' -- Pitoy shows his humanity and fumbles a cross by Oropka out for a corner. It's to Uropmabin at the near corner, he collides with Anes and is furious at the lack of a penalty call there. The ball squirts just wide of the post, and I can only shake my head. What do we have to do to score today?!

91' -- Uropmabin all alone into the area ... and they call him offside! Ridiculous call from where I'm sitting, but it stands.

FT -- I tell the team they played well regardless of the score, and they're a little disgusted with that approach. It's true though, this match was beyond frustating. We lose 1-0 despite several excellent opportunities pretty well finished. Pitoy had the finest match I've ever seen a keeper have, with 5 saves on our 16-7 shots advantadge. This was as well as we've played all year for my money, but it's still in the books as a loss.

Sutiono played well in defeat, while I was disgusted by Fitriandi once again. Adie suffered no long-term effects, and we will be working on getting him on the pitch as much as possible to build up his fitness in the coming matches.

[Brian Swartz]

12.3 -- Raul Fitriandi strained a chest muscle and will miss at least a month, maybe a bit more. That pretty much forces our hand right now to be more aggressive tactically than I'd like, since we can't field a proper 5-wide defensive line now.

12.6 -- World Cup Draw.

The U.S. will have a tough time next June, as they are in Group A along with England, Brazil, and Australia. This is an extremely tough group and will be a stern test to advance.

The other groups are as follows:

B: Cameroon, France, New Zealand, Uruguay
C: Italy, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Togo
D: Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Japan
E: Holland, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia
F: Argentina, Congo, Mexico, Portugal(our southern neighbors aren't too pleased with this either)
G: Chile, Costa Rica, Germany, Switzerland
H: Croatia, Iran, Morocco, Spain

[Brian Swartz]

12.7 @ Persebangga(5-2-1, 2nd). Setia is back in the lineup, we'll play very conservatively on the road today against the biggest surprise in Group D so far. Persebangga is making an early run at back-to-back promotions, having just come up from Second Division ranks. They've been opportunistic, but they've also been stingy, allowing less than one tally per contest and losing only to table-topping Persemalra. Head man Achmed Muryahad has been there just over two years and made a massive success of himself so far, though they don't have any more of a following(yet) than we do, selling less than 200 tickets despite a 20k capacity stadium. Somebody thinks this club is worth investing in ... It's little surprise they are better than even-money favorites.

5' -- A lead pass to Yogi in the area, but he takes a little too much time and they recover to block the attempt. An open look from just outside, straight on a minute later by Kasipmabin is struck wide. A good start for us though to put a little pressure on them and show this won't be a walk.

The big difference early between Persebangga and other clubs in this division is that they make less mistakes -- they don't give away possession much, you have to take it from them most of the time.

16' -- A hideously off-target by Uropmabin, probably close to 25 yards out. Still, they haven't gotten off an attempt from any distance. So far, so good.

19' -- Heckuva blast by Yogi, but it's almost 30 yards out and Ibrahim has plenty of time to get to it and tip it away. The corner goes nowhere, and I've seen enough to risk a bit more aggressiveness.

23' -- Another nice counter, Uropomabin to Yogi running up the gut, wide freaking open into the area, but he led him to much with the header. We are getting close, but it feels kind of like last match, when we never broke through.

28' -- A few minutes of more tense play on our end, and their first shot angled from about 12 yards is wide right.

33' -- Yogi again ... wide right as Ibrahim came out to cut down the angle, he didn't have time to completely settle on that one. Still, very makeable from about 20 yards.

40' -- A smartly struck, angled header off a corner was a dangerous moment until Urwan cleared it off the line.

HT -- They're beating us consistently in most of the little things, though we've had our moments, but on the attack we've been far more dangerous as reflected in the 7-3 shot count. We'll stick with what's working for at least a while longer.


47' -- We decided it was a really bad idea to cover Surya on the right wing at all. He waltzed in to less than 15 yards out, then barged a shot over the crossbar, refusing the gift. No defensive tactical setup can stop us from making that kind of boneheaded play, Kasipmabin responsible in this case.

Another reason to respect this opponent: this is the first time I've seen anyone look fresher out there. We won't have the fitness advantage we do in most matches.

55' -- Yogi goes down after having the ball taken in their half, and he's done for today. We can only hope it's not serious. Oropka comes on.

60' -- The closest thing they have to a counterpart, Bachtiar, goes down in the same spot on our side of the pitch. It's no surprise that Yarangga was involved, and I'm shocked he wasn't carded. A rather obvious payback move, and one I'm not at all pleased with.

63' -- I put Sutanto in for Adie who is out of gas -- he's got a couple matches yet before he's ready to go the distance for us. It's been a quiet second half so far with only one shot each way, and with our two best offensive middle of the field players out, I tell the guys to tighten things up at the back. Unless lighting strikes, it's time to try and hold for a draw.

72' -- Siswanto comes free less than 10 yards out, but Patay manages to get in front of it just in time. They just about had us there, Setia would have been hard pressed to do anything about that strike.

74' -- Another dangerous run past Kasipmabin on the right side, but he makes a critical tackle without a penalty foul to send it out for a corner. Patay beats two opponents to the ball for the header to clear, but the last ten minutes or so have been our worst of the match. We're getting tired and sloppy, it's showing, and the dam could break at any time.

79' -- Siswanto has a good luck at a header from about 8 yards out in front, but he puts it just over. Their corners are looking more and more dangerous as well.

83' -- Siswanto gets a crack just inside the area ... blocked! Yang is there from 15 yards ... blocked by Kasipmabin!! Our defense is doing fantastic work, doing whatever is necessary to get a body in front of these balls. We just need a few more minutes ...

85' -- We've got a break, as Ewangin finds Oropka on a breakaway! He chips it from just inside the area to avoid the angle getting cut down, and a fine play by Ibrahim just gets his fingers to it, tipping it wide but not by much! Oropka was inches away from winning it for us there. Back to back corners use a little time but provide no threat.

FT -- No injury-time surprises, and it's yet another draw for us. Of all people, Roni Setia had the best performance for us today, his first shutout and first match back.

[Brian Swartz]

12.14 vs. Penajam(4-1-4, 5th) We're short Oropka today as he came down ill a couple days ago and was sent home to avoid risk of spreading the infection. This leaves young Sutanto as our only available sub. Penajam has similar injury issues right now and while they've been up and down, three of their four wins have come on the road. They're a high-scoring bunch but give up a lot too, more than any other club in the top half of the group. We need our scorers to break out of their slump today.

We're slight favorites as usual at home, but the pundits like Penajam to take this one as they think our injuries are more critical.

1' -- Well that didn't take long. Yogi finds Ewangin in the area, and he takes a bit too long allowing them to knock it away for a corner. Ningmabin eventually got an angled volley from about 20 yards, he would have to hit it through a crowd and it was sent high.

5' -- Twice in one minute Gede Putra collides with Yarangga, on opposite ends of the pitch. Both times he got the worst of it, Frans got only a foul call for his trouble.

7' -- Ningmabin crosses for Uropmabin, but it's a little too far. Another good start for us, but we need to capitalize and get something on the board.

10' -- Is this a football match or a street fight?? Hidayat smacks into Ewangin, who goes down and Sutanto will come on. 80 minutes to go and no subs -- we need to do something quickly, because things could get interesting late in the match.

For a while it was played almost exclusively in midfield, their attacks threatening virtually nothing and us getting caught offsides or mucking it up with an ill-considered pass.

27' -- Yogi leads Sutanto, too hard or that was a clear one-on-one for the youngster. Not as good as Fabian normally is with that kind of pass, just too much on that one.

28' -- The fouls continue, and Yarangga picks up a yellow. Even if he doesn't get sent off today, he'll still be suspended for our next match. I have no choice but to tell him to back off for the rest of this one.

40' -- After a few minutes of sustained pressure, Adie finds Uropmabin for an angled shot from about 10 yards, and he easily beats the keeper on left(far) side! For the first time in about three full matches of action, we score and we really needed that one. It's 1-0!

42' -- A rather blatant foul by Urwan stops a counterattack, and he's fortunate not to get carded there. The freekick goes into a scrum, but Sutiono eventually manages to make the clearance.

44' -- Another foul by Urwan and there's not even a hint of leniency this time.

47' -- Uropmabin goes around two defenders ... and tries a shot from well right of the area. Center ... the ... ball, that's a ridiculously low-chance shot and you've got Yogi and Sutanto in the area. Think, dude!

HT -- Shots are 4-1, with their lone effort a half-volley from outside the area. My primary concern right now is that two our best three defenders are limited by the fact that they have been carded and I have no subs. We need to be smart in the second half, if we are we've got a great shot at holding on for the win. Our passing has been pretty atrocious when we've had the chance to attack, so it'd be nice to clean that up and get an insurance goal as well.


46' -- less than 20 seconds in, they get a decent angled shot but Sutiono was back there blocking off part of the angle and Setia played it smart, cheating the other way towards the short post. He made the save easily, and there's no harm done.

47' -- A nice push, Adie's in good position to blast a cross ... their keeper tips it, high in the air and I thought it was over the goal. Instead, it came down right at the far post, and Sutanto put it in from practically inside the net with a header that would have been hard to miss! That's his second goal of the season, and I won't look a gift horse in the mouth -- we'll close up shop and keep things tight at the back the rest of the way. I remember what happened last time we had a 2-0 lead, and I'm not interested in giving them any chance to repeat that scenario. Adie gets the most undeserved assist I think I've ever seen, his second of the match!

51' -- Full of adrenaline, Sutanto screwed up a chance for another one. Urwan centered for Sutanto and with attention focused on the others, he had a great look at a blast from about an 8-yard angle. It was right at the keeper though and blocked away, if he'd gotten it close to either post I don't think anybody would have stopped it. Too much power, not enough direction on that one.

53' -- Sutiono absolutely lost track of Tuharea ... I don't know what he was looking at but he just stopped, they hit Tuharea with a lead pass and he was all alone, beating Setia like a rented turnstile to the right side. 2-1. I wish we weren't so darn good at having horrid defensive breakdowns right after we get a lead ... We can't just play keep-away now, there's too much time left.

60' -- Sutiono and Taharea both slide for a through ball that's in to the area ... Sutiono gets it so they'll have a corner, Taharea doesn't get up and has to leave the match. Bad luck for Penajam, they manage a header toward the goal and into a crowd, but Setia manages to grab it.

65' -- Uropmabin gets his head to a long freekick by Adie, but it was moving too fast for him to get an accurate bead on it and he puts it wide.

69' -- Almost an exquisite passing play as we traverse the final third in the air, headed first by Yarangga and then by Uropmabin, but the second pass was just a bit too far for Sutanto to get to.

Meanwhile, we are getting fouled more and more often, yet nobody on Penajam is getting carded. I'm becoming annoyed by this.

72' -- Just as I'm thinking how the field is opening up on both ends as fatigue is mounting for both clubs, Uropmabin finds Yogi over the middle, he outruns their defense right down the middle of the pitch and launches a rocket from the edge of the area into the left corner of the goal, no chance! 3-1, and it was the kind of play that shows why Fabian Yogi is our best player, nobody else has the skill to both handle the ball like that at that speed and blast a shot like that. That should put this match away. Should.

79' -- Sutanto in between defenders up the gut, lays off it to trailing Yogi, over to the right, good chance for Adie -- he doesn't do enough with it and it's out for a corner. Then Adie compounds his error by getting called for a foul and he's given a yellow card. I can only shake my head in annoyance, but he is tired and still working his way back into shape so it's hard to be too upset. Besides, there's nobody on the bench to put in ...

81' -- They get a corner ... which we knock out for a corner ... which we knock out for a corner from the other side ... which Ningmabin finally clears.

89' -- Uropmabin lets loose a ridiculous blast from ... had to be 35 yards out. What is he doing shooting from that rang... I mean, great shot! It's over Igor's head and in, the exclamation point on a great show for the home fans!! A screamer from halfway to midfield, and there's nothing the keeper could do. Absolutely incredible. 4-1.

90' -- Yellow card for Hidayat!! It's about freaking time, I literally laughed out loud, gleefully.

FT -- We win 4-1, the most we've scored this year and we did it without our top goalscorer(Ewangin) most of the way. It's also the first match we've had either way decided by more than a goal, a fantastic win for us. Decky Uropmabin scored 2 of his 3 season goals, with an assist as well to clearly earn player of the match. Yogi(1 goal and some fine plays in midfield though his passing was bad in the first half) and Patrick Adie(2 assists) were excellent also.

[Brian Swartz]

12.21 @ Persemalra(8-1-1, 1st). Our last match of the calendar year, and it's against the clear best team in Group D. Persemalra are 1-2 favorites, and for good reason: they have won every home match they have played, and the majority of their road contests as well, scoring a group-high 21 goals on the year. For our part, we have drawn our last four on the road: adding a fifth to that streak would be as much as I can hope for here. With Yarangga suspended for his third yellow card, we lose a key part of our defense and will once again have only one sub available, though our hosts to have significant injury issues of their own. They play a 3-5-2, which in theory could leave them vulnerable to our counterattacks ...

1' -- It took us a whole 15 seconds to get a clear shot for Ewangin, about 25 yards out and he tried to float one into the far corner but it was a little high. Good attempt though. A sharp-angle shot from Uropmabin about 30 seconds later was high as well, but I'm still encouraged.

7' -- We've totally controlled the opening minutes, and Patrick Adie sends a freekick from about 30 yards high and wide.

9' -- Good grief. They get a freekick from just left of the area, Ningmabingets to it ... to Adie who can't control it, and Fuad puts it inside the left post from the middle of the area, his first goal of the year and we're behind the 8-ball right away. Excellent reaction shot off the bounce, but we gave them that one. 0-1

16' -- Kuswanto gets a step on Sutiono, but he stays close enough to block it out for a corner. Plays like that are why we'll miss him next year.

23' -- Nice pass from Uropmabin up the middle to Yogi, similar to the way he scored in our last match but he didn't get as much on this attempt and it was tipped away. Our attacking opportunities have dried up a lot, their midfield is breaking a lot of things up and making it difficult and there's more or less constant pressure on our end. It's easy to see why Persemalra is dominating the group, but we still only need one big play to get back in this match. A minute later, Yogi strolled in for an angled shot and put a weak effort well wide to the left. Disappointing effort there.

26' -- Adie with a cross to Ewangin right on the doorstep, but it's too high and he can't get to it.

34' -- Injury for Patay but it looks like he'll be able to continue. We've done much better the last 10 minutes or so in competing for possession.

39' -- Turnover just outside their area, Ewangin to Yogi, angled blast ... off the crossbar! He almost tied this match right there ...

41' -- And now we are going to pay for the fact that he didn't. Kuswanto outjumps Sutiono for a header, expertly controls it and moves in to put a shot in the upper left corner. That's the best individual play I've seen a forward in this league make -- it's 2-0 now and it's not at all clear that we can do anything about it. We had our best defender in position right with him and it didn't matter.

46' -- A long one from Ewangin is high, but not by much.

HT -- We're down 2-0 and headed for near-certain defeat, but the only real difference so far is they've converted their chances and we haven't done so with ours. We've had an 8-5 edge in shots and a few quality chances, just only put one of them on-target. Possession is at a respectable 47% and they've only been somewhat superior in the little things -- I'm not at all unhappy with how we've played despite the score. Their first goal was somewhat of a fluke which happens both ways as we know from our last match, and we should have a goal by now with the opportunities we've had.

I don't make any changes, and remind the guys they were expected to lose today anyway, just go out and finish it well, play freely.


52' -- Sutiono gets caught too far up field and loses contact with Kuswanto and they find him with a nice passing play, easy score as once again Setia had no chance. Stick a fork in us, it's 3-0 and we're done.

56' -- Ningmabin to Ewangin for a close angled shot, a defender got back just in time to deflect it sky-high. The corner goes to Urwan and he blasts it basically the opposite direction of the goal and well into the stands. I have no clue what he was trying to do there, but it was a really stupid idea.

58' -- Adie's not looking himself after a midfield challenge, and there's no point in keeping him out there today. Sutanto comes on.

61' -- Ewangin crosses one in, Uropmabin gets it and it's not hard, but well-placed, bouncing in the right side! 3-1 now, and that should make the guys feel a little better about getting our butts handed to us.

67' -- Another header for Uropmabin, but it was deflected first and he couldn't get his timing back in time, putting it well wide.

73' -- With our defense focused on their forwards up the gut, Sada gets behind us out wide and perfectly places a soft shot just inside the left post. These guys just don't miss -- every decent opportunity they've had has been a goal. 4-1.

79' -- Really strange play here, one of the weirdest sequences of our season. Sutanto had space into the area on the right, then stood there and waited till he was triple-teamed. He got to an open Uropmabin in front 10 yards away, who turned and blasted it off the right post. Blown opportunity, right?! Retop couldn't control the ricochet, and Yogi got there first, deftly putting it in the open left side of the net. 4-2!!

83' -- What the ... Another Ewangin cross(apparently he's the decoy today) finds Yogi in front, inside box but at too sharp of an angle and it's bounced off the keeper. He was actually too close on that one, and it almost ricocheted back in but not quite.

FT -- We lose it 4-2, but I can't fault them for their effort. We outshot them 18-8 and could well have been right with them if they'd hadn't been as fantastic in their accuracy(or if we'd been better). I told the team I was pleased with the effort and they didn't react well at all -- apparently they don't think that's good enough.

Uropmabin's goal and all-around good play made him our best today, followed by Fabian Yogi though his finishing was poor except for the one goal he did score. Roni Setia was third, which might surprise with four conceded but none of them were on him, they were just great shots.

The word on Adie is that he has a sprained wrist and will miss two weeks. Could have been worse. We have no matches the rest of the year so he won't have to miss that much time, but we just can't seem to keep him healthy. I gush praise about Kuswanto in the press conference, for good reason, but I'm a little confused when he states the next day that 'it's a dream to receive praise from such an amazing head coach'.

Uhm thanks, but I'm actually a virtually unknown head coach with a club exactly where they were predicted to be.

[Brian Swartz]

CONTRACT RENEWALS

With the six-month mark approaching on a number of guys I had to make some decisions. The following are up at the end of June ...

DC Sutiono(presently on 9M). He's been our best defender so far with 1 assist, started every match, and overall solid rating of 6.67. He also wants a raise to 9.75M which is obscenely beyond what we can afford. With our financial situation and the budget I've been given, anything past 4M would have to be a premium talent. I offer him the 4M and 1-year extension, he wants 9.25 at least. He's not getting it, so he's almost certainly going to be gone.

AMC Fabian Yogi(3.75M). Our top player as we all know, he has 3 goals and 3 assists in 8 games and is the quarterback of our counterattacking style. Says he's not really interested in coming back but he'll consider any fantastic offer. 4.5M with a 2-year extension? Nope, he wants 8M minimum. We just don't have it. We're averaging 4 freaking fans a match. Four. So unless the board is willing to pump in more money(they're not), say goodbye to Yogi. Makes me want to cry, but ...

ST Engel Engawin(3.5M) -- This one's interesting because he's 37 and won't be getting any better, but we have a club option for a 1-year extension. He leads the club with four goals so far this year, and unless he completely falls off the cliff(very possible) he's worth another year I think. Option exercised.

DC Rial Fitriandi(1.6M) -- He's not been as good as expected this year, the odd man out in the defensive line even if he wasn't injured, but he's only 23 and we still think he's capable of being a star at this level. Our relationship is ... not the best, so asking him to reduce his demands is kind of pointless. He wants 3.25M, which he isn't going to get. My ceiling for him is 2.5M, he wants 2.75. I think we're overpaying at 2.5 as he strikes me as an underachiever with an attitude problem, but I can't budge him.

MLC Melianus Ningmabin(1.6M) -- Solid but unspectacular on the left side of the midfield. He wants a raise to 1.8 but is willing to add another year at his current wage.

DR Piterius Piter Urwan(1.6M) -- I like Urwan, aside from Sutiono he's our best defender. He's willing to shave 100k off his pay in exchange for a 1-year extension, so I take it gladly.

AMC/ST Yustinus Oropka(1.6M) -- He's depth only on a quality squad. It took some time but he also agrees to a 100k pay cut with a 1-year extension.

ST Decky Uropmabin(1.4M) -- 3 goals and 2 assists in six league matches, and only 25 years old. They say he's already peaked but still -- him we want to keep around as a solid attacking option and the only one if Yogi leaves and Engawin declines. He wants 2.5M, we talk about the club's finances. He thinks his demands are reasonable and he does have a point. We should be paying him more than the 1.5M for depth guys like Oropka/Ningmabin, he's a better player than they are. I try a max deal for 2M per. He ups his demand to 3.25M. Apparently he didn't like being asked to reduce it. I'm willing to give him the 2.5 but not much more. He won't take less than 3 so we are at an impasse for now. His contract isn't up till August so we'll revisit this a bit further down the line.

He's now ticked at me and doesn't think he wants to play for me anymore, so that decision may be made for me. Looking at it now it was clearly a mistake, but you gotta go with your gut.

GK Ferminus(1.4M) -- He's shown some progress and is a solid keeper for this level, and the lowest I can get him down to is 2.3M for 1 year(he doesn't want a longer deal). I take it.

DCR Ben Onisius Benoni Patay(1.3M) -- He's been underperforming so I want to keep him, but not if he wants a big raise. We settle on 1.7M, he wanted 1.9 but I didn't want to go quite that high.

MRC Patrick Adie(1.3M) -- We haven't seen that much of him, but enough to know that he's solid but not spectacular. Adie is 34, so I don't want to break the bank. After some haggling I convince him to add a year at the same minimal rate.

MC Frans Yarangga(1.3M) -- Our pit bull, he's the hinge from defense to attack. He's too aggressive sometimes -- ok, more than sometimes -- but I really like him. At only 26, he's definitely worth keeping around. He also wants 3.25M. I start off at 2.5, we settle on 2.75M. I tried for a longer deal but he would have none of it -- it's a doubling of his present salary, but he's worth it.

GK Roni Setia(1M) -- 17 years old, he looks to be our keeper of the future. We still think he's a star in the making and he has a club option for an extension. Easy choice.

DL Ignasius Kasipmabin(900k) -- Decent at best so far, the fans don't like what they've seen from him, and he's 36. In other words, I wouldn't mind another cheap year as a backup, but he's pretty much done. He knows it, and accepts an extension at 1M.

AMC/ST Pamungkas Yuli Sutanto(150k) -- His deal is good through 2015 already, and as he's not 17 yet we can't offer him a pro contract until summer. He's done nothing to dispel the impression that he's capable of being a very good player -- at the Premier Division level. But that's the future, he's not ready to take over for Yogi yet.

So most are willing to come back, but it looks like we will have some cash freed up by the loss of Yogi and Sutiono(about 13M between the two of them). Right now I'm inclined to give Uropmabin what he wants and then try to get a few more players in of the best quality we can. Cross that bridge a little later though.

[Brian Swartz]

12.29 -- Ningmabin has to leave the team for three weeks due to a viral infection. This will leave us shorthanded in midfield as there's nobody else competent at the left side.

12.31 -- The draw for the Indonesian Cup was today, and we'll host Cilegon FC in a week's time, then play the away leg the week after that.

Lionel Messi(FC Barcelona) wins the Golden Ball and Player of the Year.

DECEMBER REVIEW

1 win, a draw, and two defeats, but it was our best win and we played a couple of top opponents in the month. The board remains satisfied, with the fans joyful over the 4-1 win against Penajam. Poor performances of Fitriandi and Patay are the fans greatest concern.

Another 200+M loss, and the debt stands at almost 1B.

STANDINGS

Persemalra(28 pts, +14)
Persinab(21 pts, +10)
Persipon(20 pts, +6)
Persebangga(19 pts, +3)
Yahukimo FC(16 pts, +2)
Penajam(16 pts, --)
PSKT(15 pts, --)
Persenga(13 pts, -4)
Persigubin(11 pts, -1)
Persewar(9 pts, -6)
Persibas(8 pts, -13)
Persatu(3 pts, -12)

Persatu has a virtual lock on the relegation spot, they are winless and have scored just 5 goals all season. Likewise Persemalra is clearly the class of the league as was just demonstrated to us. The other qualification spot for Second Phase though is very much up for grabs: my money's on Persinab.

As for us, we classify as a bit unlucky. At 2-5-4, we having been gradually getting better as the season progressed, partly because of health and partly due to having gotten to the point of really understanding what I want us to do tactically on the pitch. I think we are clearly capable of being a top-half club but we need to start turning some of those draws into wins in order to get there. Right now, I'm bullish enough that I want us to finish in the Top 5, and I think that's a very doable concept. The Yogi/Ewangin/Uropmabin combo has proven capable of being dangerous in attack against anybody in this league.

Long-term, the picture is a bit more murky. In the entirety of First Division, only Persinab(second in our group) averages less than our four fans per match. That's right, four(they have three). Everyone else, all the other 46 clubs, have at least 20 with only 9 under 200, half averaging at least 1000. However, right now we have a very average payroll for First Division, so as long as they are willing to maintain that I think it's worth me sticking around and building on this. We've got a very fun team to manage and Sutanto/Setia are good pieces to build on for the future(maybe Fitriandi too if he learns to grow up emotionally).

At the moment, the jury is very much out on my status as the board are unwilling to even discuss a contract.

[Brian Swartz]

1.3 @ Persibas(2-2-7, 11th) It's hard to keep a competent first eleven out there normal conditions: now we have four matches in 11 days thanks to the Indonesian Cup. This will get ugly even if we don't have more injuries. If we do ... well, it may be time to grab a few townies again.

But first things first. If we are going to climb into the top half, then we need to win matches like this against bottom-feeders. The first meeting was the infamous penalty opener to the season. With all our key attackers ready for this one, I'm expecting a different result. Persibas is second-to-last in Group D both in scoring and conceding.

We're 1-3 favorites though our pundit of the day picks a draw and says we both suck. I hit the revenge angle and half the team responds well, the rest(including the sulking Uropmabin) sit there with a dumb look on their faces. Patrick Adie is back but I don't expect much out of him since he just started training yesterday.

11' -- Uropmabin rolls a center for Adie and he puts one off the crossbar and in! First shot and we score off of it. 1-0

18' -- They pass around the edge of the area and we give them more space than we should be, then Ariyanto chips one into the right corner too high for Setia. What do we do after we score? That's right, we let them back in it. 1-1.

23' -- They get a shot from about the penalty spot off a third consecutive corner, thankfully it's right at Setia. I've got a bad feeling about this match already, we need a win and it's turning against us.

27' -- Arriyanto's open again from the same spot, wide left. 3-1 in shots at this point, not in our favor.

30' -- How utterly ridiculous. They cross it in and Arriyanto is wide open at the spot. We stand there around him and stare dumbly while he blasts a shot in the left side of the net.

2-1. I haven't seen us look this bad all year. What the heck is wrong today? I'm already preparing a royal ass-chewing for halftime.

34' -- A blast from Yogi doesn't even stay inside the box.

41' -- Arriyanto centers, Hari's in front in-between apparently comatose Fitriandi and Sutiono, and a blind cripple could have scored that header. 3-1.

47' -- A weak chip by Yogi sails well wide. Pathetic attempt.

HT -- Outshot 6-3, porous defense, lazy on the attack ... I haven't seen this kind of nonsense all season. I pull no punches and they at least responded properly to a rare screaming fit. I don't know how much good it'll do ...


46' -- Uropmabin had a bit too much adrenaline at least. 30-yard shot straight on, and it was still rising when it went over the goal, and when I say over I mean 15-20 feet over.

47' -- Adie goes down, hurt. Again. I need to find a way to make a stretcher part of his uniform.

48' -- Yogi finds Ewangin a bit outside of the area, and he blasts one short-side inside the left post! 3-2, and we're in this match again ... if we can manage to defend worth a crap.

57' -- Another looong blast by Uropmabin. Closer, but still high.

72' -- We're getting no chances as they are just defending and fouling at every opportunity. With countering not working at all, we go for broke and send everything we have at them. We've got to create something.

75' -- A bit of a break for Ewangin, but they pushed him a bit wide and his angled shot was into the side of the net.

86' -- Arriyanto is called for a foul in our area, he's carded but it's a bit too late for that to really matter.

88' -- Corner sent to the near post, too close and Fitriandi can't get here before their keeper grabs it.

91' -- Hari gets behind our overcommitted defense and adds the final insult.

FT -- We lose 4-2, and have now been beaten twice by Peribas. They've beaten everyone else in the group a combined total of once. If we played the whole match like the second half, we'd have been ok -- the first half was the worst football I've seen all year. There are no words for this debacle.

Ewangin's goal gives him a team-leading five, and he's the only one deserving of praise today. Fitriandi and Kasipmabin draw specific criticism, which they don't respond well to. I don't care.

Adie's latest injury is a bruised rib, probably a bit under two weeks for this one.

[Brian Swartz]

1.6 -- Ferminus is back, Kasipmabin out for 3-4 months though with a slipped disc, so we can say goodbye to him for the rest of the season or at least close to it.

vs. Cilegon FC(Indonesian Cup) We're 4-7 favorites to advance.

1' -- A yellow for Sutiono, not a great start.

5' -- After consecutive fouls on Sutanto, Sulim gets a yellow. Looks like the ref will have a busy day today.

9' -- Fitriandi comes too far forward and they find Nutiono behind him. He beats Ferminus to the near side and we're down immediately. Fantastic. 0-1

20' -- Yogi goes down hard and has to be taken off. Superb.

26' -- They get a header in front but Norval directs it wide. We really look bad again today ... Yarangga picks up a yellow shortly afterward.

35' -- Freekick for Yarangga just outside the area, but he misfires.

36' -- They try to float one over Ferminus from straight on, but he makes the leaping save. That one probably was a goal against the shorter Setia.

37' -- Similar try for Sutanto on the other end, wide right.

39' -- Yarangga gets caught tripping one of their players, and you can say goodbye to him, 2 yellows and he's done for the day.

44' -- Norval gets free at the spot and volleys one home in the right side. 2-0, and down a man already this is pretty much over.

45' -- Rivanto in front with a header that's wide left, we're lucky they didn't score again there. We really suck right now.

48' -- Noval centers for a trailing midfielder, good strike by Ferminus makes a diving save ... Noval pounces on it and it's 3-0. Disgusting.

53' -- Another header in front, pushed wide. The way we're not defending, they might score 10 goals.

81' -- Sutanto up the right side, crosses in for Ewangin who volleys it in from inside the box. The keeper might as well have not even been there. That's nice, but far too late. 3-1.

84' -- A questionable offside call robs Sutanto of a one-on-one chance.

89' -- We get caught pressing and Noval has an open net after a pass from the opposite side. 4-1

FT -- Ahmad Noval posts all four scores in a humiliating home loss, which 96 attended. I'm disgusted with the way we are playing right now.

Yogi will be fine, Yarangga accepted a warning and his suspension professionally, so I didn't let him have it too hard in the press. I did talk about how upset I am with our play though.

[Brian Swartz]

1.10 vs. Persipon(6-3-3, 4th) We're still missing both wide midfielders, but other than that everyone's ready to go. Ferminus isn't back to full strength yet, but a couple more matches should get him there. Persipon are strong 2-5 favorites, and my biggest concern is that we pull our heads out of our behinds and start playing like we wouldn't rather be watching grass grow or scuba diving than competing in a professional football match. Nothing else matters if we don't get back to playing like we were in November and December.

Our first match was a very competitive 1-0 road loss, with Basri coming open at the near post for an easy corner score in the 62nd minute to provide the only tally.

Ain't nobody on the team happy right now after the way we've been playing. That's good, they shouldn't be -- but this could spiral downward quickly if we don't turn it around now.

Interestingly, Basri isn't even in the match squad, possibly out hurt. I implore the guys to step up their effort, most seemed to be listening but not visibly reacting.

8' -- Uropmabin is fouled and gets a freekick in front ... high and wide right. So far I'm not seeing much evidence of a better effort.

11' -- Perfect setup, Uropmabin leads Ewangin into the area at the spot, but he takes a moment too long to control it and his shot is blocked away. Those are the kind of opportunities we really need to convert. Somebody needs to make a play here.

12' -- Yogi finds Ewangin on a similar play, but the defense is closer his time and tackle it out for a corner. Nothing doing, but we are controlling play right now, an encouraging start overall.

16' -- There it is! Uropmabin plays a nice ball over the middle, Ewangin manages to get control of it and feeds right to Yogi who is all alone as all four defenders converged. Baskara gets in position in time, but Yogi puts it inside the right post from about 10 yards or so out, beating the diving save attempt. We take the lead 1-0 ... now what do we do with the lead?!

18' -- A nice move by Prayoga who shows speed and skill dribbling through our defense, but his 25-yard floater doesn't even make Ferminus move before grabbing it. I tell the guys we need to stick with him closer and make him give up the ball.

20' -- Second of a couple attempts, Oropka gets it to Uropmabin with an angled 20-yd shot, off the post but I think that would have scored short-side again.

25' -- They are called for a yellow in tripping Oropka, probably the least threatening player in our formation since he's out of place at MR. Sutanto is fortunate he doesn't get carded for a blatant trip less than two minutes later -- that's the kind of mistake he needs to grow past.

28' -- Prayoga tries to split our defense again, but Fitriandi and Sutiono converge and take it away from him. That's the kind of effort and teamwork that's been missing -- even if we lose this lead, I think we're starting to get back on track.

30' -- Ewangin to Yogi who runs through three defenders to miss badly from the edge of the area with men all around him ... the impressive part there was that he didn't lose the ball 10 yards earlier. Normally I'd expect him to pass off there.

35' -- A nice tackle by Yarangga squirts the ball to Wahyudi, who finds Prayoga behind the defense and he beats Ferminus easily. That's their first decent attempt, but that's all it took. Bit of a busted play there. 1-1

36' -- Another yellow, this time for tripping Ewangin. A minute later, they are called for third in tripping Yarangga. I don't think this strategy's working out too well for them.

39' -- A pass up the left side to Prayoga draws most of our defense, and a centering header to Lubis beats Fitriandi by a step or two. Lubis puts a volley easily past Ferminus on the left side, and in five minutes we've gone from winning to losing. 1-2

41' -- After a pair of back-to-back corners, Urwan sets up Fitriandi for an angled shot that's blocked by the defense. A third corner goes to him again at the short corner but he can't get anything through the crowd.

HT -- A pair of defensive breakdowns have cost us after an excellent first half-hour of play. I've seen too many matches like this already this season.

53' -- Yellow card for Urwan, a ridiculous call as it was a clear dive by Wahyudi. That'll get Urwan a suspension as it's his third yellow of the season.

Some of the sloppiest passing I've ever seen ensured we didn't come close to getting a chance to equalize.

58' -- And then suddenly it bounced our way. Oropka to Uropmabin up the right side of the area, but the defense was right with him. Herstianang got a foot into clear it ... off of Uropmabin ... and straight to the foot of Ewangin who put it in easily on the half-volley from just outside the box!! He found a great angle there and nobody had a chance at it. 2-2, and we're back in business!

62' -- Oropka crosses for Yogi but it's too close to the goal and Baskara is there.

69' -- Yarangga second yellow in minutes away from the ball, and he's carded. Dude is just a loose cannon! I tell him to chill for the rest of the match.

72' -- Persipon pulls back, heading for the safe waters of a draw. I'm not quite ready to do that, but we are getting tired ...

80' -- Nobody is getting an advantage right now, so I acquiesce to the draw, tell the guys to pull back, and put Setia in for Yogi. I don't want him getting hurt late in a likely useless struggle.

86' -- An opening in the area for Syafii though we converge on him quickly. He went down hard with three defenders around him, and I half-expected a penalty call but none came.

90' -- Two late corners, one fumbled out by Ferminus to give them another shot.

91' -- Our turn, Uropmabin is fouled and we get a freekick right of the area. Nothing.

FT -- We could have done worse than a draw against a club challenging for Second Phase qualification, and for a good part of the match it looked like we would. Ewangin is named man of the match largely for his equalizing goal, and of course he also assisted on the first one by Yogi. We weren't great today, but it was a big step back in the right direction, and that was my post-match focus.

Media is starting to criticize Fitrandi, who doesn't taking kindly to being put under a lot of pressure. I talk to him and support him, tell him how important he is to the team. He is appreciative and says he'll try to be more disciplined in defense ... here's hoping.

[Brian Swartz]

1.13 @ Cilegon FC(Indonesian Cup, Second Leg) The fans are confident of a big win. Good for them. I'm not, inasmuch as we got smashed 4-1 in the first one and our away mark on the season stands at 3 losses and 4 draws, with not a victory in sight. Even if we win this one 3-0, we'll still fail to advance as they'll have more away goals. At least our next match isn't for nearly two weeks so there's nothing to hold back for. Yarangga is suspended but we get Adie and Ningmabin back on the midfield wings. Oropka will man the center.

The oddsmakers have us as 1-2 favorites, but that didn't help us last time. The main thing I would like to achieve with any reasonable expectation is to win the match, not necessarily the round on aggregate, stay healthyish, and have the squad aside from the obviously inconsolable Uropmabin in a more positive frame of mind heading into the rest of our Group D schedule. We're pretty tired, so if it doesn't go well early, I'll use the subs and call it a day.

3' -- I tell them to watch Norval, who scored all four goals, like a hawk. And so Sutiono picks up a cheap yellow almost immediately. Grrr.

4' -- Ewangin to Yogi, nice trailing pass to Ningmabin but he's taken down no call as he's about to get off a good angled shot.

5' -- Ewangin gets a clear shot from 23 yards out straight on, hits it well but right at the keeper.

10' -- Ningmabin to Yogi up the gut, he hits it from 25 ... good attempt but just high. We look to be the better club early in this one, a sight different than the first match. They come back down and get an inconsequential header in front, their first chance of any kind.

13' -- Yellow for Urwan. I don't like the way this is heading.

22' -- They're playing cautiously to ensure they hold their large lead, sensibly so. Adie really needed a few days of rest before he was ready for action, and he's laboring already. I put Sutanto on for him as it's unlikely we'll be able to press forward for a big win, though we're playing solidly.

27' -- Another long shot for Ewangin straight on, but it's well high. This has all the makings of a scoreless match unless we can connect from long distance or catch some other sort of break, they are effectively frustrating our attacking moves most of the time.

30' -- They pick a yellow at midfield for fouling Oropka, then foul Sutanto a few yards outside the area and Ewangin has a freekick. He just misses wide right, well placed just over the line and a foot left that would have been a score.

36' -- A yellow for Yogi.

37' -- Two man game between Ewangin and Yogi, angled shot just outside the box by Ewangin but it's blocked away by the keeper. I thought we had a score there, probably should have.

46' -- Urwan clears out a dangerous corner, but time isn't called and they get it back in. Sutiono and Fitriandi get caught too close to the middle and Norval comes free for a header from about 10 yards, angled well across for a score. 0-1

HT -- We've outshot them 6-2, that was the only corner for either team, the little stats are close ... but Norval finished his try and we've missed at least two or three that were better. That's five goals for him in a match and a half, and we're trailing a match we should be able to at least draw based on how it's been played.

57' -- Uropmabin unleashes a bouncer from over 30 yards, well placed but because of the distance there was time to knock it out for a corner.

60' -- Yogi sets up Uropmabin in the right side of the area, but it's a very sharp angle and into the side. Ningmabin's day is done(fatigue) comes off for Setia. Yogi comes open up the middle, good touch on the 25-yd shot but it's just off the upper right corner.

79' -- Another long shot straight-on for Ewangin, another miss. They've effectively frustrating our attempts to get better shots in the second half, and we haven't gotten any breaks.

82' -- A hideous 30-yd volley attempt by Uropmabin. He loves the long shot too much, and could have gotten closer there.

83' -- Firmansah is carded for tripping Ewangin. A 35-yard freekick is hideously off-target probably 15 yards wide right.

FT -- We lose 1-0 despite a 14-2 edge in shots and overall game good enough to have at least a draw and probably a win. We would have lost the round anyway, but it would have been nice to get a couple scores today.

[Brian Swartz]

1.20 -- Latest Asian Competition Rankings show the Indonesian Super League dropping 3 spots to 27th, the Premier Division down 8 to 36th, and the First Division down 3 to 83rd. The lower divisions dropped a bit as well.

1.26 vs. Persatu(0-4-9, 12th) We are 1-6 favorites in what is the definition of a must-win. Urwan will be serving his yellow card suspension today, leaving us short a man in defense with Sutanto forced to fill in. Our first meeting was a scoreless draw in which, horribly short on healthy attackers, we saw a season-high 21 shots go begging.

7' -- Yogi goes down hard in the area trying to manufacture an attack, and he'll stay on but we could do without him being hurt.

9' -- Ewangin to Upromabin who is all alone in front but a little too close to their keeper who cuts down the angle and blocks the shot. A corner results in a loose ball in front, but we can't get to it.

11' -- Ewangin with a good look but a diving stop tips it out. Two corners produce nothing. Our finishing seems to be getting worse with each match.

13' -- Just as I say that, a line drive from more than 25 yards beats Khuluq inside the left post, and Ewangin has his eighth goal of the year to put us on top 1-0!

16' -- The shots just keep on coming, with Adie blasting one angling in from the right, but it's right at Khuluq and he blocks it away. There's a not-small difference between Persatu and everyone else in this group, as their lack of a win through the first 13 matches indicates.

Our passing became more erratic after that and Persatu improved their game a little, and we weren't able to mount the same kind of consistent pressure.

30' -- Their first shot of significance is a header in front, about 14 yards out which is easily saved by Ferminus.

33' -- Bethan gets behind the defense on a counter as [b]]Patay just stands there like an idiot, and he's alone into the area, beating Ferminus who had no chance on that one. Superb. They've scored six goals in 13 matches, and just made us look stupid on that. 1-1.

35' -- Uropmabin uncorks a 30-yarder, our first shot in a while, it's a well-placed line drive that beats Khuluq but is off the post. Ewangin misses high a minute later on a long-distance try after a corner.

40' -- Yogi goes down hard again and this time he'll need to come off, Oropka is in and Sutanto takes the AMC spot. Another foul immediately following the kick and Adie has a straight-on attempt just outside the area, at first I thought it was a penalty call. His blast is well high.

43' -- Didn't take Sutanto long to make his presence felt up front. A fantastic header by Ningmabin started a counter with Ewangin taking it up the left side. He found Ningmabin in the left side of the area with a return pass, blocked off he shoveled one to Sutanto put it past Khuluq inside the left post! 2-1 now. Ningmabin made the play, probably his best sequence of the year.

45' -- A header at midfield sets up Uropmabin ahead of the back, but for once he actually waits too long and his shot is blocked out for a corner. After a turnover, Ewangin has a shot blocked as he couldn't get it off in time for a clear look, and time is called.

HT -- Up 2-1, we finished well and could have very well added another goal before the break. I would like an insurance score and will switch to a more conservative approach if we get it, but for now we'll keep pushing with only a single goal lead.

50' -- They are obviously concerned with Ewangin and are making a career out of fouling him today.

54' -- A volley by Ewangin is blocked out for a corner.

58' -- Adie to Sutanto to Ewangin, who perhaps tried to get a little too cute on a fairly open shot from 20 yards. Khuluq got to it with a diving tip, a little more on that and it was good, heading for right top corner. Sutiono's normally inept corner kicks have been much worse than usual today.

62' -- We work it to Ningmabin for pretty good look from inside the area, but he's well off-target. Setia is on for Adie, who has been beat up pretty good today.

64' -- Sutiono shows his value with a fantastic tackle of Mustofa who looked like he was a step behind the defense. I decide not to tempt fate and tell the guys to hold back now and just look for chances to counter.

74' -- Surhandak gets a freekick from 30 yards straight on, thanks to just our third foul of the day. It's a weak effort though and easily taken by Ferminus.

78' -- A scramble in front of our goal is far too close for comfort, but Ningmabin eventually gets it out of there.

82' -- They are getting too much pressure on our end, and we'll retreat and try to block off any possible chances of a tying score.

FT -- A couple of desperate long-range attempts miss and we hang on for the 2-1 win. It should have been a bigger margin, but we'll take any victory at this point, they've been few and far between as it's only our third of the season. Upromabin(1 ast) edged out Sutanto(1 gl) for player of the match.

Yogi has a dead leg and will miss 6-8 days.

[Brian Swartz]

January Review

A win, a draw, and a loss in First Division play, a decent month were it not for the lopsided loss in the Indonesian Cup to Cilegon. The board remains 'satisfied', they are extremely positive about the positive team atmosphere but note that the one-sidedness of the defeat in the Cup cannot be ignored and fans are also concerned that the style of football has not been that excited(translation: we need to finish better and score more goals).

Another big loss of 160M brings our balance to -1.14B. And counting.

Standings

Persemalra(35 pts, +16)
Persinab(28 pts, +12)
Yahukimo FC(25 pts, +6)
Persebangga(25 pts, +3)
Persipon(22 pts, +3)
PSKT(21 pts, even)
Penajam(20 pts, even)
Persenga(20 pts, -2)
Persigubin(15 pts, -2)
Persewar(15 pts, -6)
Persibas(14 pts, -12)
Persatu(4 pts, -18)

Everyone has played 15 except for Persewar and us ... we visit them this afternoon. We have road matches against the teams around us in the standings and home matches against the higher-ranking ones to finish the year, and unless we can get a win or two in those away contests I don't see us moving up the table.

[Brian Swartz]

February 1 @ Persewar(4-3-7, 10th). A rematch of one of our most disappointing results this year, in which we scored twice in the first 15 minutes only to see them equalize in injury time for a 2-2 draw. This time around, Yogi was a last-minute decision but not quite ready to go ... he would have been an emergency sub at best anyway without the time to get his leg back into shape. So Sutanto gets the start at AMC, leaving us with two subs.

As before, they play the double-edged 3-5-2 so more fireworks are expected, and Persewar are slight 5-4 favorites with any result expected to be a significant possibility. We need a win to stay in contact with the mid-table clubs as Persenga and Penajam both won their matches this weekend, but Persewar has won two of three themselves.

1' -- Uropmabin gets a good look as Sutanto heads it to him in front, couldn't have been more than 10 yards out. He turns and fires ... Amri barely needed to move to grab it. There was plenty of room to put it in the left side of the net, that should have been a quick goal.

We barely manage to break up their first few attacking runs thanks to a couple of nice tackles. Both sides have the same idea: wait for a turnover, then get the ball forward quickly. Just a matter of who executes it better. Their idea of how to stop us early on seemed to be 'foul the guy with the ball'. We were indecisive enough to make it unfortunately effective.

11' -- Hakim's second blatant trip, this one on Sutanto, earns him a yellow card.

15' -- Mariansyah gets it behind Sutiono at the edge of the area, Ferminus comes way out and is able to get his hands on the ball, we clear it before they can get a shot at the nearly-open net. Well it's even now, both of should have a goal but neither do. Good play by Ferminus, but a half-decent lob and he would have been toast.

25' -- Ningmabin with a deep cross and their defense it caught asleep, Upromabin mishandles it but Amri can only push it away ... open net but he can't get through their defenders, the rebound is to Adie out wide and his shot is blocked as well. We never had a clear shot there but just needed one deflection to go our way.

27' -- Ari gets carded for fouling Ewangin, I'm not sure that was even a foul so I'd be hopping mad if that had gone against us. Ningmabin follows it up with a blast from another zip code that almost scores, but Amri tips it away. What do we do with the corner, class? That's right -- nothing.

32' -- After some loose ... and that's putting it very charitably ... marking and defensive coordination on our end, Praestiyo has a volley inside the box, but Fitriandi blocks it out for a corner. There's been a lot of dangerous chances in this contest, yet nobody has scored yet.

38' -- Irawan gets a pretty good look at a header off a corner kick, and we're lucky to deflect it out. A minute later, a freekick gets Waraby free for a sharp-angle header in the box, and it's into the side of the net. I'm getting the feeling more and more that we are dodging bullets right now, and I tell the defensive line to pull back for the rest of the half.

46' -- Ewangin hits a skip pass to Adie, who puts a weak shot wide.


HT -- They've outshot us 5-4 so it's not been as active as I expected.

47' -- Ewangin to Sutanto in a good counter, but the defenders were close enough to push him wide and the angled shot went into the side.

48' -- A chaotic corner and Praetiyo is given a yellow card for taking a dive. That could have gone either way.

51' -- Another berserk play. Ferminus tips a cross to keep it away from their forwards, but it doesn't go out. Praestiyo heads it in front, where Mardinsyah is all alone in the goal mouth. 0-1

59' -- A long shot from straight on by Ewangin is well off-target.

70' -- Disaster. Mardiansyah comes down the left and leads Prasetiyo into the area behind Fitriandi. Ferminus just stands there and doesn't even react to cut down the angle, easy score and you can put a fork in us as it's 0-2.

73' -- Sineri hits one from halfway to midfield and into upper left corner. 3-0. What a bunch of crap.

90' -- An angled shot from Adie is just barely blocked, but he retrieves it and finds Uropmabin who hits to open net. 1-3, but this one is about in the books and it didn't look like Persewar was even trying on that sequence.


FT -- 1-3. The ironic thing about this is the last two matches we've played have been our best this year in terms of possession(58% and 56%), but it seems since the calendar turned to 2014 we can't get anything right at the business end. Misplaced passes, poor decisions, inability to finish, mental breakdowns at the back -- we've got a crisis of confidence or something, and I don't know what to do about it. I made it worse by calling it a solid effort(which it was), but they were pissed about the result and thought I was being ridiculous.

We drop to 10th, and will drop further if we can't find away to convert more of our opportunities.

[Brian Swartz]

2.8 -- Another friendly with the goal of getting Setia and Yogi back to top condition.

2.15 vs. Persinab(8-4-3, 2nd) -- Our 2-2 away draw earlier in the year might have been our best result of the year. Right now Persinab are leading the race for the second qualification spot, and are tied for best in the group with only 16 goals allowed while their 28 scored are more than anyone except for Persemalra, the most dominant club in all of First Division. Any more of our recent defensive breakdowns, and this will be a one-sided loss as Persinab are 1-3 favorites and have won their last three matches by a combined 7-1 count. On the plus side we are as healthy as we've been all year; Kasipmabin is still out but everyone else is fit and ready to go. We'll try to make it as difficult as possible on them to score, and hope to at least make them earn it here. I know their forwards Yoweni and Mote are high-quality, so I tell the guys not to give them any room to work.

7' -- Fitriandi goes for a header and misses, Yoweni draws the defense and finds Mote for an easy score. Well that didn't last long did it. Sutiono thinks Mote was offside, and it was close ... but the score counts. 0-1.

10' -- Another foul by Fitriandi who is absolutely stinking it up, and we're fortunate to have them miss a close freekick high and right.

14' -- Mote from 25 yards, placed well in the right side. 0-2. We are helpless against these guys and they know it.

17' -- Yoweni to Adii angling in from the right -- he misfires but it's pure luck they didn't score again there.

44' -- Adie centers for Yogi whose weak close-range header is right into their keeper's hands. That's our first good opportunity of the match, blown completely of course.


HT -- We've been taught a painful lesson already today as Persinab has almost always been in the right position to break up what we are trying to do.


47' -- Yogi is taken down as he moves in on goal, I thought that was a penalty but no call.

53' -- Adie takes it up the right side, point blank header for Upromabin in front but he's offside and it won't count. Questionable call at best IMO as I thought he was even with Baidowi.

60' -- Sutanto on for Ewangin who is having his worst day of the year.

67' -- Yarangga goes down hurt, how wonderful. Oropka on.

81' -- Mote in front near the spot misses narrowly to the left.


FT -- Well we got our butts good and truly kicked once again, 0-2.

[Brian Swartz]

2.23 @ Persenga(5-6-5, 8th) -- Our 2-2 draw earlier in the year had everything, with Ewangin equalizing in the second half, five yellows handed out, and 15 minutes of a two-man advantage for us late due to injuries that we could do nothing with. I'm not positive we would have a decent shot at beating a side composed of the blind and infirmed on our recent form, so it's no shock that we are dogs though 10-1 is a bit more than I expected.

17' -- Praestyo's weak free-kick attempt is easily saved, the best chance so far as we've missed on a couple of promising runs.

28' -- Nice passing play almost reminiscent of earlier in the season ... Yogi to Uropmabin to Adie up the right side, he centers for Ewangin open at the spot, and he doesn't put much on it, blocked away. Figures. Adie however is right there and blasts it home! We lead 1-0!! Oh we needed that. How we needed that. Had to basically be gifted to us as Ewangin should have scored on the first try.

30' -- Did our darndest to surrender the lead right back, but Praestyo's close-range angled header is off the bar and over.

31' -- Adie to Uropmabin ahead of the field ... wide freaking open ... but he can't control it and it simply rolls it to their keeper without incident.

35' -- The second of a pair of Persenga corners is headed out then back in, Ferminus grabs it in a crowd. We take it down, Ningmabin to Yogi, an angled shot inside the area ... weak and right to the keeper. Why are we afraid to freaking shoot the ball lately? That kind of play was money for Yogi at least two times out of three early in the year.

A lot of up-and-down action, counters and counter-counters as everyone's getting a workout. Good football on display if not a ton of scoring chances, nobody can finish stuff off.

41' -- Ewangin to Uropmabin to Yogi back to Ewangin, open at the edge of the area ... and he might as well have handed the ball to Dianto on a silver platter with how weakly he struck that lazy looper right at him. STRIKE ... THE ... BALL ... you haven't been our leading scorer with that kind of crap!!

44' -- And again. Yogi straight up the middle to Uropmabin, who softly lofts one right to Dianto's hands. This is getting absurd.


HT -- Should be 2-1 or even 3-1, but we're up by a goal and are limiting their chances with our best counterattacking runs I've seen in months out of this group. Now if somebody would remember how to strike the ball with a bit of authority, we'd have something here ...

Still, we haven't won on the road this year. Ever. Taking this match could go a long way towards getting me a new contract ...


48' -- Would have gone a long way. After we lose a couple 50-50 balls, they eventually work it to Warman from about 16y, and he blasts it(that's how you do it, gents) easily past Ferminus in the right corner. 1-1

Being the insipid whiners we are, we complain about offside. It wasn't, he wasn't, get back to midfield and work on retaking the lead fellas. That one was a rare mistake by Sutiono who gave him way too much room.

51' -- Or not. Ruminsir hits one from at least 30, Ferminus] dives way too early, and the ball slides inside the left post. 1-2. Match blown unless we mount some kind of rally here.

53' -- Yogi to Adie for a long angled shot, once again he needed to get more on that one. Easily saved.

54' -- Warman again from long range ... just high.

55' -- Ninmabin beats two men down the left, to Ewangin in front for an angled header ... it's high. The cross was a little short, otherwhise that would have been a virtual gimme.

65' -- Uropmabin up to Yogi, Dianto comes out, Yogi chips it over him from the edge ... and it's off the crossbar! Quit being so darned cute and blast the damn thing!!

73' -- Yogi from just outside the area ... weak and wide right. Double facepalm.

75' -- Straight-on freekick for Adie ... off the bar, and we stand there dumbly as they knock it out for a corner instead of fighting for a shot into the open net. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Yogi and Adie come off, Sutanto/Oropka on.

77' -- Another straight-on free kick from maybe 30 this time, well high.

FT -- We get nothing at the end, and lose it 1-2. Passivity in the shots we got(14-10) is the cause here, yet another match we should have a result from but didn't.

[Brian Swartz]

2.28 -- Sumba Barat put in a bid for Fitriandi. I have no plans to resign him and our financial situation is dire. They are offering only 25% of the next sale, I suggest a meager 20M fee(twice his value) as well. They refuse and withdraw the offer. I'm not giving him away for free, as much as he's a whining underachiever we're still a defender short without him.

STANDINGS

Persemalra(41 pts, +20)
Persinab(32 pts, +14)
Yahukimo FC(28 pts, +7)
Persebangga(28 pts, +1)
Persipon(26 pts, +4)
Persenga(24 pts, -1)
Penajam(23 pts, +1)
PSKT(22 pts, -1)
Persewar(22 pts, -3)
Persigubin(15 pts, -7)
Persibas(15 pts, -14)
Persatu(4 pts, -21)

Our string of 3 straight defeats has dropped us well behind the middle of the pack, and our only realistic hope is to outlast Persibas and avoid dropping another spot into 11th. This year's pretty much played out, and we're looking forward to the next season with much uncertainty. 11 points clear of winless Persatu with five matches left, we have almost no chance of being relegated.

Another loss of 160M, and the board remains 'satisfied'. Not sure how with the way we're playing. Disgusted or repulsed might be more appropriate terms. They aren't satisfied enough to give me a new contract, which with four months left on the current one speaks volumes about how satisfied they really are. The trouncing by Cilegon in the Indonesian Cup and the generally positive demeanor of the players continue to be the most significant factors.

At this point I have little choice but to keep my ear to the ground for appropriate openings in case I'm not invited back, but meanwhile we have five matches yet to play.

[Brian Swartz]

3.7 vs. Yahukimo FC(8-4-5, 3rd) A string of four straight wins from December and January propelled Yahukimo into a tie with Persinab for the second qualification spot, but they've since lost two of three including a 1-0 home defeat to Persipon last time out. Still, their form is much better than ours and you can add desperation to it now with only five matches left. They are 1-2 favorites to take us down today.

I tried to fire the team up and encourage them to get us out of this losing streak, which seemed to resonate at least with Yarangga.

9' -- After some back and forth play, good hustle from both clubs, Yogi to Ewangin who drew two defenders and slide the ball across to Uropmabin who was clear just outside the area, and our best long-shot threat buried it in the left side! 1-0 we take the early lead and we've looked fairly solid at the back, hopefully we can hold it this time against a dangerous foe.

11' -- After two immensely stupid turnovers, we are fortunate that an angled shot is blocked out for a corner by Ferminus.

14' -- They work it to Kotto, straight on from 17, high and wide left. If that play was any indication though, we'll be under a lot of pressure today.

27' -- Yogi looks for Ewangin, Harianto takes out his legs and they call a penalty!! Our first penalty chance of the season and an opportunity to add a critical goal to our tally. Yogi buries the try in the left corner, no chance to stop it and we're up 2-0!!

I tell the guys to pull back even more than our usual approach would dictate. We need to do anything we can to protect this lead.

33' -- Fitriandi leaves his man to cover a weakness out wide, not a wise choice as Kotto is open from no more than 10 out and fortunately his blast is right at Ferminus. We caught a break there and a narrow miss into the side on an angled header greets the second corner ... if this keeps up they're going to score eventually.

37' -- Mamoribo blasts a nice try from straight on outside the area, and Ferminus was able to tip it high. Big play by Ningmabin to clear out a low corner into traffic.

43' -- Decent look from about 25 for Ewangin is high and wide.


HT -- This sure looks like the match to break our streak, and I tell the team how pleased we are. Still, we're fortunate they haven't scored despite the fact that we've played very well.


48' -- Adie to Yogi who strikes a long blast on the volley ... missed but not by much.

51' -- After a couple corners, a long header by Yogi on a poor clearance is well wide.

We've increasingly been settling for long-range efforts as the year's gone on, so I decide it's time to start working on getting the ball into the box before we fire.

58' -- Samberoni gets behind the defense, a good tackle by Fitriandi takes away the ball ... and almost knocks it in for an own goal!

68' -- Sutanto on for Yogi, and Oropka on for Ewangin shortly thereafter. It's time to just go into full stall mode now.

93' -- Samberoni draws the defense and Alma places one perfectly inside the left post. Disappointing to give up a goal this late, but we're still up by one. 2-1


FT -- We hang on for a 2-1 win to break our skid, with Engel Ewangin earning player of the match with two assists. Unfortunately only three people saw it, although that's two more than have seen some of our matches this year.

The media is starting to comment on my job status, saying that the jury is still out and describing our results as 'good, if unspectacular' and stating my performance as 'steady'. Certainly could be worse. Maybe this will incite the board to get off their butt and make a decision -- or maybe the reason I don't have a new contract is that they already have ...

Persibas won as well so we're still up on them only on goal differential, and Persatu actually came through with their first win of the year, shocking second-place Persinab 3-2 on the road!! I can't fathom how that happened, they had one goal in their previous eight matches combined and then put up three on one of the league's best sides at their building?!? Even more incredibly, that was three goals in only five shots.

[Brian Swartz]

Though our next match is the day's primary interest, I did take note of three First Division coaching openings, all of which either have similarly crappy financial situations or imminent relegation. I'll definitely be watching developments among other clubs closely though ...

3.16 @ PSKT(9th) -- We trail PSKT by four points with four matches to go, so any chance we have of catching them and moving up in the standings would have to involve a win here. The previous day, Persatu lost and clinched the relegation spot, while Persemalra won and clinched Second Phase qualification, so the only Group D drama is who gets that second place. Surprisingly, we've been named even-money favorites on the road, which is better than I think we deserve but with PSKT getting just a draw out of their last four matches, neither club is exactly burning up the standings. We lost at home 1-0 in the first meeting despite outshooting them 16-7, as Indra Permana put home a header on a corner kick late in the first half. This was the infamous match when their keeper, Fernando Pitoy, turned away shot after shot after shot. We can only hope to have better luck getting something past him today. The revenge angle was fairly well-received in prematch.

11' -- Some better-than-usual passing ends up with a header in front for Uropmabin, hit a bit too softly and Pitoy was able to grab it. A quick turnover and Yogi hits him for a longer-range chance, which hits the crossbar at the left corner, a bit lower and there's nothing Pitoy could have done ... probably trying to be a little too perfect which a keeper of this caliber can certainly provoke.

19' -- Hajiyanto gets open enough for a quick crack from inside the area, which Ferminus makes a nice play on to tip away. He didn't quite get the angle right, but it was a solid save. Then disaster strikes on the corner, again against the same team. It went to the near corner, bounced off a couple people and right to Suteja who was on the doorstep and found a crack between our defenders. Just one of those scramble plays, and the bounce went their way. 0-1

22' -- We get Uropmabin open less than 15m out, but he angles it wide right. That should have tied the match right there. Another longer one a couple minutes later went into the side of the net. He's getting in scoring position just fine, but not converting anything today.

25' -- Ewangin with a nice setup, Pitoy guessed near post and that's where it went, he made a diving save. Different match, same results -- we just can't get anything in against this guy.

34' -- A rare turnover by Yarangga sets up Anes straight on from just outside the area, wide left.

38' -- A long shot by Yogi, probably 30 yards out, and Pitoy gets to it but doesn't deflect it quite enough, it's in the right side of the net! A surprising goal there, good shot by Yogi to be sure, but I would expect that to be stopped most the time as well. We'll take it, drawing even at 1-1 and proving that their keeper is human might even be more valuable.

46' -- Turnovers both ways end in another chance for Yogi, but this time Pitoy barely has to move.


HT -- Even 1-1, I tell them to keep up the good work and it didn't seem to go over that well. We're outshooting them 9-5 and have had excellent control of possession, but we are also notorious for second-half letdowns.


46' -- Nice lob pass from Uropmabin to Ewangin, who goes upstairs on the first-time half-volley but Pitoy gets his hands up in time. An offside call would have negated it had he scored.

They control most of the action early in the half, but don't get much in the way of attempts on goal.

58' -- Uropmabin leads Adie in the right side, who moves in and has his sharp-angle shot blocked out to the surprise of nobody. Adie retrieves it and hits Uropmabin from about 12m out, he could have hit a better angle but that blast was a goal against most keepers. Pitoy tips it away and we get nothing.

74' -- Two-man game with Ningmabin and Ewangin results in a rare good look at goal for the midfielder ... but it's well wide.

76' -- Freekick straight on, and Fajiri puts it off the inside of the right post, no chance there for Ferminus. 1-2 and there's little time left now. Respect is due for that, simply an exquisite and probably match-winning strike there.

84' -- Another freekick for Fajiri, who tries the same thing again and doesn't miss by much.

93' -- One final shot and Ningmabin is off-target again.


FT -- A very tough 1-2 loss as we were more than good enough to at least draw. I officially hate PSKT and hope I'm here long enough to see them again and kick their butts in future years. We should have won at least one of our matches this year, and walk off with nothing but two defeats by a single goal each.

[Brian Swartz]

3.29 vs. Persebangga(8-5-6, 5th) Persebangga are 1-3 favorites and our role is that of spoiler: 7 clubs are separated by five points fighting for the second qualification spot, and they are right in the middle. We played them to a scoreless draw earlier in the year.

6' -- Three straight corners, with the third yielding an ineffectual shot by Yogi into a crowd at the goal.

8' -- A blast from the edge is wide for Persebangga.

14' -- Uropmabin with a nice ball into the area for Ewangin, but they converge before he can get a shot off. We're off to a good start, but neither side is getting any kind of good looks at the goal, just a few shoot-and-hope attempts.

28' -- A 30+ freekick from Adie is no trouble for Saputro in goal.

37' -- Freekick from Nugrohu straight on about 25m, well hit but Ferminus just manages to tip it over. That was close.

41' -- On the other end, a freekick goes from Adie to Uropmabin, who sets up Yogi for a gimme ... but it's disallowed, Uropmabin was offside. After trading possessions a few times, Yogi gets a shot in the middle but he had to wait a bit for a pass behind him, and Saputro saves his try.


HT -- No scores, Persebangga have looked quite poor so far to be honest. We're at 58% possession, which is normally their calling card, and that would tie a season-best for us. We've been particularly dominant in the headers, and it's a great chance for a win if we can get a score somewhere. I tried to fire them up to finish off well and it seemed to be mostly effective.


47' -- Weird play. Uropmabin fires at the goal, looked like a score but then it appeared to rise and hit the bar, went over ... and they called it a corner. Saputro wasn't anywhere close, and I didn't see it deflect off anyone. Frustrating as that was a good look. Whatever ball we're using, the Brazuca has nothing on it.

50' -- A long pass is met perfectly by Arif, who put a lot on that header but was far enough out for a diving save by Ferminus. A heck of a play still, and I'm glad we remain even. It seems to wake them up, and we're under pressure for a few minutes. Then ...

60' -- Yogi sets up Uropmabin for an open volley. Sharp angle, but he was alone right at the corner of the box and missed wildly.

66' -- A deep freekick is sent into a crowd, and somehow Surya gets to it right in front between Urwan and Fitriandi, volleying it in! We've controlled the whole match, and now trail 0-1!!

67' -- Absolutely incredible. Just as I'm about to pull him, Yogi launches one from almost 30, and it's unreachable in the top right corner. Incredible shot there, I hated it until it went in. 1-1!!

A few minutes later I pull him anyway(and Uropmabin) to get fresh legs out there for the finish.

80' -- Sutanto tries to beat Saputro from long-range upstairs, and almost does but it's just over. Setia comes on for Adie, and I wonder how we'll navigate the close of this match.

82' -- 30yd freekick for Yang, well off target.

85' -- Oropka fires from straight on and isn't even in the correct zip code.

87' -- Another shot from Sutanto, well hit but wide right. Yang gets one a minute later at the other end, and his rocket is a little high.

93' -- One final rush. We work it around, everybody touches it a couple times, then Sutanto to Ewangin who looks for Oropka in the area ... it's too far but Sutanto runs on it and puts it inside the right post! With just seconds left before the whistle, the youngster scores his fourth of the year, and we take the victory in injury time!! 2-1!!!

Sutanto earns a player of the match citation, and we move two points up on Persibas, who recently got themselves a new coach, with two matches left to go. Only one fan observed his thrilling finish ... meanwhile, Ignasius Kasipmabin is back to training but there is little time to get him in shape. Ironically, for the first time all year we have no injuries.

Interestingly, Sutiono has drastically reduced his demands to 6.75M. I offer him 4 as before -- he's not willing to go below 5.75. Still, that's a lot closer than we were. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be willing to resign if nobody wants to pay him that much. Frankly he might be worth 6M, but we can't afford it.

[Brian Swartz]

APRIL

Another month, another 143M down the drain. The board is still satisfied, liking the squad atmosphere and the fans still think Fitriandi sucks. I agree which is why I'm not resigning him, so they only have two more matches to suffer through his screwups.

[Brian Swartz]

4.5 @ Penajam(10-2-8, 3rd) Well, we get to play the role of spoiler once again. Penajam are prohibitive 1-6 favorites, having won five of their last six First Division matches which makes them the hottest team in Group D. They are now just one point back of Persinab for the final Second Phase spot. On the other hand, our first meeting was our biggest win of the year, a 4-1 shellacking.

4' -- A nice move by Ewangin gets him clear enough for a shot against two defenders, but they blocked off most of the angle and an easy save for Tigor.

8' -- A lob freekick by Adie is off the top of the bar.

17' -- Yogi's in for an angled shot, probably should have waited a bit, and blasts it well high.

Still, while they've been good in the air we are controlling the action well on the road against a hot club. I like what I'm seeing.

27' -- A high cross to the far post by Urwan, Adie is there but Tigor gets a hand in. Patay gets literally the first decent shot at a header off a corner that we've had all year, they head it off the line, Urwan heads it back towards goal, but it's just wide. A couple almosts there which unfortunately still add up to zero.

34' -- Bit of a chaotic play. They're looking for Tangon angling in from the right, Kasipmabin tackles the ball away, but it squirts right to Tuharea who puts it past Ferminus for the score! Patay should have tried harder to get to that, instead of campaigning for a foul call. 0-1

Shortly afterwards, Yarangga picks up a frustration yellow.

39' -- Al Hadad is free on the left angle, but misses a chip wide.

45' -- Ewangin leads Uropmabin in from the right side, and he shows excellent patience to dribble in a bit closer, then a well-placed ball inside the left post for the score! We're tied up at 1-1 just before the half!!


HT -- We're back even and have looked the better squad, hopefully that will show through in the second half.

A lot of good up-and-down action both ways as you can't fault the effort on either side, but only poor chances result and nothing close to scoring. It did appear that the momentum had turned after a few minutes, and we were the ones under pressure more often now, trying to preserve the tie.

71' -- No shots for over ten minutes now, and Patay is called for a trip on Tuharea, giving them a freekick about 30y or a bit closer. The shot's saved by Ferminus ... but a penalty foul is called on Yarangga! We protest to no avail. Ferdiansyah goes left and Ferminus guessed right, and we're down 1-2.

77' -- They get another freekick, this one's saved as well.

80' -- Fresh legs in for the final push.

86' -- Yarangga's second yellow and he's sent off.

91' -- Fabulous pass Adie to Sutanto, he's got an angle ... tipped high by Tigor. Almost another injury-time goal for the youngster. We get a corner now ... and then a second ... too close and Tigor has it.

FT -- We lose 1-2 despite a good effort. We are now 11th after Persatu falls to Persibas 3-1, and have Yarangga suspended for a visit by our mighty group leaders in the finale.

[Brian Swartz]

4.19 vs. Persemalra(14-3-4, 1st) The dominant team in our group are 5-4 favorites, and Yarangga is serving his suspension. Keeping it close would be enough for me. We lost the first one 4-2.

6' -- Fantastic passing gives them a good open look from 17m, surprisingly missed to the left.

9' -- An angled shot by Kuswanto is blocked away by Ferminus, the follow-up into the side. They're all over us here at the start.

We did much better in the possession battle after that, and I was thrilled to have weather the initial storm, at least temporarily.

33' -- Another good look for Kuswanto, but he didn't control it perfectly and by the time he did we were able to cut down the angle and Ferminus blocked his attempt wide. A poor clearance by Patay on the corner and another diving save was required. Second corner and Sutiono clears this one. We are very lucky to still be even.

42' -- They get it into the box but at an extreme angle, and Ferminus saves yet again, Patay with a better clearance this time.

44' -- Back the other way, our first decent shot as Ningmabin aims for the right corner, just missing it high and wide.


HT -- I tell them they are doing well. Ferminus is having an amazing day to keep it even. Our final half of the year, and I wonder how long we can keep this up.


46' -- A long-range rocket from Ewangin is off the bar.

52' -- Kuswanto takes an excellent deep pass, controls it, and blasts it home from 16. No doubt about that, and we're down 0-1 with no real shot at getting it back.

56' -- A freekick by Adie is close, but high.

61' -- A long header by Kuswanto from a corner is headed sharply but cleared out by Uropmabin.

63' -- After a chaotic corner, Adie gets a crack from 17 and it looked like he scored, but it was off the post. We really could have used that.

67' -- A brilliant header by Putra after a very patient buildup is unreachable in the right corner of the net from 15. Nothing to do but applaud that. 0-2

72' -- Yogi gets a volley shot off a corner, from the edge of the area and a fairly sharp angle. It had to be perfect, and it was into the left corner just inside the post! Fabulous shot there, and it's 1-2, we aren't dead yet!!

83' -- Another solid save by Ferminus and they'll get a corner -- we put fresh legs on for the finish.

84' -- Sutanto up the middle for Uropmabin, alone into the area but he couldn't get set soon enough and his try is blocked. That was probably our last good chance.


FT -- We lose 1-2 in a pretty even match. Despite the loss, it's a good effort to finish the season with. Our impressive visitors upped our usual attendance to 18 today.

[Brian Swartz]

FINAL STANDINGS
2013/14 Indonesian First Division, Group D, First Phase

Persemalra(48 pts, +19)
Persinab(37 pts, +12)

Penajam(36 pts, +6)
Yahukimo FC(35 pts, +10)
Persipon(33 pts, +2)
PSKT(32 pts, +1)
Persewar(30 pts, +1)
Persenga(30 pts, -2)
Persebangga(30 pts, -6)
Persibas(25 pts, -4)
Persigubin(21 pts, -8)

Persatu(7pts, -31)

I don't know why two of the groups(C and D) had just one relegation spot, but I'm glad we did since our late-season slide would have put us in one of them. 5 wins, 6 draws(all of them early), and 11 losses. Not an inspiring year and I'm disappointed we didn't do better. We get a paltry 113M for 11th place finish.

[Brian Swartz]

5.10 -- The season's been over for us for a few weeks, but today it ended for everyone with the completion of Second Phase play. The two qualifiers from each of the four groups(First Phase) form two new groups of four, with the top three in each getting promoted to Premier Division. Pretty good odds there, and the prize money of at least 620M doesn't hurt either . One match against each opponent, so there's little margin for error.

Shockingly, Persemalra crashed out in Group A, managing only a draw, while Persinab dominated Group B with 2 wins and a draw, surrendering only a single goal. They'll be going up, Persemalra will be devastated to remain in First Division despite having the most dominant First Phase record with 48 points.

[Brian Swartz]

BOARD REVIEW

5.11 -- They called me in for a sitdown, and the rumors swirling were that I was about to be handed my walking papers. Officially, they describe my job as 'insecure' and felt I should have done slightly better. Specifically, there was disappointment that we 'barely managed to stave off relegation' -- I pointed out that we had 3x the points of horrid Persatu but the concern was we only managed to be better than them, not anyone else in the group. Additionally, fan discontent with the performance of our defensive line has reached the point where they think the situation is starting to get out of hand.

President Wahyu Fadli asked why the team performed so badly this year, and wasn't interested in the real answer(bad contracts, espescially that of Sutiono). It's not hard to understand their position, they certainly overpaid for what they got in terms of the product on the pitch this season. I chose the least excuse-making of the options presented to me, that it was my first job, and asked for time, essentially throwing myself on the mercy of the board.

They were not particularly gracious. It was made clear that they are losing patience with me, but are willing to extend my stay into the first few matches of the next year to give me a final chance to prove myself. They want nine points from our first five, but I was able to talk them down to a much more achievable six: nine from five would be a group-leading pace or close to it, not really reasonable in my view so I'm glad they were flexible.

It'll definitely be a stressful off-season, as my job now depends on hitting the ground running next year.

2013/14 SEASON REVIEW

Goals Scored: 29(10th in Group D)
Goals Allowed: 37(10th in Group D)
Avg. Attendance: 12(47th in First Division out of 48)
Annual Salary: 2.04B(28th in First Division)

We were equally poor on both ends of the pitch, which contributed to our inability to win back-to-back matches even once. A competitive salary, much of it mispent on players unworthy of their contracts, did not prevent this. We edged out Persinab(11) to avoid having the worst attendance in the tier, but it's worth noting that fifth-worst(44th) was 177, almost 15 times what we brought in. More than 80% of our season-ticket holders(65) didn't consider it worth making the trip on a consistent basis. It's hard to find words for such a deplorable situation.



Keepers

Ferminus(30, 2.3M) -- 6.68, 16 app, 26 conc
Setia(17, 1M) -- 6.63, 8 app, 10 conc

Both are quality for this level, Ferminus is expected to remain the starter and Setia the backup. We'll stay with them and I don't anticipate changes here.


Defense

DRC Ben Onisius Benoni Patay(28, 1.7M) -- 18 app, 6.39
DR Piterius Piter Urwan(31, 1.5M) -- 17 app, 6.62
DL Ignasius Kasipmabin(36, 1M) -- 14 app, 6.50
DC Sutiono(26, 9M) -- 22 app, 6.60, 2 as
DC Rial Fitrandi(24, 1.6M) -- 17 app, 6.25

One problem with Patay is we played him most at DR while he's best in the middle, but still he definitely underachieved compared to what we think he's capable of. Urwan is an excellent leader, too error-prone but overall the best of our returning defenders. Kasipmabin is hopefully purely depth next year.

Fitriandi's problem was making crucial mistakes. 5 errors leading to directly to a goal being scored were identified on our defensive line this year. He made all five of them. For that and other reasons, he will not be back. Sutiono's contract demands ensure that he's gone as well.

Among the three who have been resigned, I only consider Urwan reliable. We will need multiple good players here.


Midfield

MRC Patrick Adie(35, 1.3M) -- 14 app, 6.75, 2g
MLC Melianus Ningmabin(31, 1.6M) -- 20 app, 6.57, 1g/3a
MC Frans Yarangga(27, 2.75M) -- 20 app, 6.75, 1g/2a

Yarangga was very solid, despite being somewhat overaggressive. The other two are cheap and not complete embarassments, which is more than enough for me to keep them around. We have to find some kind of depth here, there are simply no options if one gets hurt.


Attackers

AMC/ST Fabian Yogi(29, 3.75M) -- 18 apps, 7.03, 8g/4a
AMC/ST Yustinus Oropka(28, 1.5M) -- 11 app, 6.53, 1g
AMC/ST Pamungkas Yuli Sutanto(16, 150k) -- 12 app, 6.70, 4g
ST Engel Ewangin(37, 3.5M) -- 19 app, 7.04, 7g/9a
ST Decky Uropmabin(25, 1.4M) -- 17 app, 6.93, 6g/5a

Losing Yogi and Uropmabin will definitely hurt. Ewangin is our best returning and was our best overall last year, but significant decline is expected in his game. He's probably not quite worth the 3.5M we're paying to bring him back, and I think this will be his last season. Time catches up with everyone. Sutanto is insanely cheap for being a decent weapon and borderline-ready to take over as the starting AMC, but we will definitely need more quality up front.

[Izulde]

May you have better luck than me.

[Barkeep49]

Glad they brought you back.

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks both, and I'm glad to have a (temporary) reprieve as well. I reloaded to try some different options just to see what happened: I got fired as often as not and wouldn't have been likely to be able to find another job soon.

[Brian Swartz]

OFFSEASON

** Facilities: the board announces they are building ground for a new stadium at a cost of 5B(2.69B loan). July of '15 is the expected completion. With our 19 average attendance(second-worst in First Division), we haven't exactly outgrown our current run-down pitch ...

The Persigubin board is possessed. But they are still paying me, and I don't know that anyone else would be willing to. So ...

YOUTH PLAYERS

We haven't got the time or money to invest in youngsters who can't contribute right away. Fortunately, however, there are a couple who we think can.

DL Widodo Faizal -- Depth at the left side right now, and in terms of potential he becomes the new most-talented player at the club. We think he is capable of being a Super League(Indonesia's top tier) player eventually.
DC Jaenal Moefid -- Similar to Abidin, just good enough for a deal.
DC Endra Abidin -- Emergency backup at best, he's not quite ready for First Division but good enough that he's worth giving a youth deal.
DM Taufik Amzi -- We didn't use a DMC last year, but if we decide to go that route he could be a serviceable backup.

Each is given a 150k deal, expiring in three years(2017).

TRANSFER GOALS

Then began a critical moment in my career. Over the next few months, I needed to find players good enough to allow us to have a better team next year, and of course to get off to a decent start and save my job. This would be a major test of my ability to form a quality squad for the first time, and under considerable pressure. Fail here, and it could be the end of my career.

My primary goal was to increase depth and coverage of all positions. We need to have some form of remotely competent backups. Most matches last year we were forced to play guys in unfamiliar positions, creating huge weaknesses as they weren't capable of being effective without being familiar and trained in the needs of those positions. The aim to is to have 18-20 players and cut down dramatically on this issue.

**Note: It can be much easier to read a synopsis, but I find that sometimes -- and this offseason was an example -- the process of when things occurred is important and not just what happened. The struggle of the journey, the day to day process of fighting in matches, offseason signings, etc. is central to effectively telling the story IMO.

5.16 -- Landon Donovan is one of six who will miss the World Cup for Team USA.

5.19 -- Adding to the sting of his departure, Fabian Yogi was named in the First Division Team of the Year, and his goal against Persemalra in the season finale was named the second-place goal of the year.

5.23 -- DR D.T.Saragih(25, 2.2M) signs. He can actually play all three back-line positions but isn't nearly as good in the center or left. Also DRLC A.E.Prasetyo(1M). His Second-Division club had him transfer-listed, and we like him as cheap depth, the versatility to play all three spots and price were the key selling points.

5.24 -- MC Herlan(1.5M) signs, having been released by Premier Division side Perssin Sinjaj after not getting any time on the pitch for them.

5.25 -- MC Dodi Saputra(1.4M) signs today.

5.26 -- DC Iskandar Muda signs for 1.3M. We like him to be a new starter in the middle of the defense.

6.14 -- 1-1 draw with Brazil in the first group match of the World Cup.

6.21 -- US crushed 5-1 by England.

6.27 -- US beats Australia 2-1, but still fails to qualify. Everybody in the group had a win a loss and a draw, but a -3 goal differential sunk the USA to last while England and Brazil move on.


July

The transfer window begins officially, and we're down to about 4.5M in budget(including Yogi and Uropmabin, whose contracts don't expire until the end of August). I like what we have added, but it's notably that we couldn't find any attackers which are vitally needed, or any wing midfielders. The situation is still far from optimal. Meanwhile, I'm now on a month-to-month contract. The fans won't miss Fitriandi much(56% approval) but they're not as positive about losing Sutiono(41%). Neither am I, he was our most important defender last year. Of the first five signings, the fans have no particular opinion of them until they see them in action for us.

We still have work to do.

7.6 -- DL Ferry Kombo is potentially a big coup for us. He's got a reputation as an inconsistent player, but should have the ability to be a significant contributor and has Premier-division potential in the opinion of our staff. Kombo refused to resign with Second-Division club Persebi, and we get him for 2.75M plus our first transfer fee paid out ever, 74M+.

This leaves us with really the ability to only go after maybe one more quality player. As it is we now have 17 players, 2 more than last year.

7.7 -- Sutanto turns pro, and gets a raise to 900k.

A crisis is clearly becoming apparent in finding quality attacking players. With the relationship with Uropmabin unrepairable, it was decided that every effort should be made to change Yogi's mind and get him to stay. We started with a 4M offer, a small raise over his current pay, and a doubling of his current bonuses, also throwing in an additional 21M if he could get 10 goals this next year(he had 8 this season). However, he wasn't willing to even discuss anything less than 6.5M, which is simply more than we can afford.

This leaves us with a real problem. The only quality forward we have coming back is Ewangin and who knows how age is going to affect him.

While they were perhaps overpaid, the only two possible signings I could reasonably describe as quality were Imam Bayhaqi and Haris Tuharea. Tuharea wouldn't accept anything less than 13M a year, a laughable amount. Now, he's good(10 goals in 11 matches last year in our Group) but it really doesn't matter how good he is when he wants a third of our budget. It was a simple thing. Either Bayhaqi signed or we were going to be laughably short of talent up front(we'd still be short with him).

7.19 -- Ludovic Magnin(35), is the new coach of the US national team as Klinsmann is fired in the wake of failing to get past the qualifying stage of the World Cup.

7.23 -- Gresik Utd wants to sign Roni Setia. I tell them they can shove their offer(which is nothing but a sell-on fee). However, later in the day Bayhaqi signs. The 21-year-old can play both AMC and ST, and will give us at least something to put on the pitch.

7.30 -- Surprising absolutely no-one, Fabian Yogi was named the Player of the Year by our fans.

Meanwhile, we will remain in Group D. Some of our foes will be new: some familiar(Persemalra, Persebangga, Yahukimo FC, Persenga, PSKT, and Persipon). I'm really not sure how they decide who stays and who goes in each Group.

The board's minimum expectation has been lowered to staying clear of relegation. A mid-standing finish would give us no more room in the budget ... 2M more would be allotted for a top-half finish but that is probably unrealistic.

Avoiding relegation it is. I'm confident we can achieve that. I think.

8.2 -- Faced with the prospect of leaving, Yogi is ready to consider a reduced contract all of a sudden! It would keep us modestly over-budget(which I didn't intend, I try to be very careful about such things). However, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Compare being less than 10% over budget to letting the fans player of the year go and our weakened state in attacking ... hmm ... yeah not a tough choice.

He initially wants a raise to 4.5M, but I get him down fairly easily to another year at present wage(3.75M) with an increase in his bonuses. Heck yeah!! I wish I knew what changed his mind, but far more important is the fact of having him back.

He's 'delighted to be staying due to a long-held passion for the club'. Really? Then why the heck did he refuse to discuss a contract/insist on an enormous raise for most of the last year?!

[Brian Swartz]

WORLD CUP SECOND ROUND

England 3, Uruguay 1
Brazil 2, France 1
Colombia 3, Serbia 2
Italy 1, Denmark 0
Holland 2(p), Argentina 2
Portugal 2, Nigeria 0
Germany 4, Iran 0
Spain 3, Switzerland 1

QUARTERFINALS

England 1(p), Italy 1
Brazil 2, Colombia 1
Spain 5, Holland 0
Germany 2, Portugal 1

SEMIFINALS

England 2, Germany 1
Spain 1, Brazil 0

FINAL

England 1, Spain 0 -- Defending champion Spain looked unbeateable until England beat them. Spain outshot England 18-8(9-5 on target) and in general looked a little better, but Wayne Rooney's 109th-minute goal from just left of the spot was the only shot that mattered.

[Brian Swartz]

2014/15 Preseason & Outlook

Rankings

US National Team -- 20th(-4)
Indonesian National Team -- 174th(-4)
Indonesian Super League -- 27th(-3)
Premier Division -- 36th(-8)
First Division -- 83rd(-3)
Second Division -- 105th(-2)

A horrible situation in Indonesian has managed to get worse. Super. Indonesia will be participating in the AFF this year.

CLUB FACTS

National Ranking: 137th(+7)
Season Tickets: 64(-1)
Profit/Loss -- 1.2B deficit, 17% of turnover
Value -- 0(5.25B loan debt) -- unchanged
Ticket prices -- 29,706(unchanged)
Media Prediction -- 11th(down from 9th)

So much for our new stadium 'generating excitement'. We are still dead-last in First Division, and 18 Second Division clubs are more well known than us. We still really suck, we just really suck slightly less than before.

The media doesn't even share that optimism, picking us to finish exactly where we did last season.

PERSONAL

Professional Approval: 15.1%(+0.1%)
Local Name Recognition -- 43.7%(+19.7%)
Global Name Recognition -- 0.5%(+0.5%)

The mere fact of having a job of any kind and(by the hair of my chin) not getting fired from it(yet) has improved my situation a bit. It was still a bad year, just not quite as bad as most thought I would have, those few who bothered to consider my situation at all that is.


ROSTER -- FIRST LOOK

First, it must be said that the evaluations by assistant PJ Bob indicate that we just basically didn't have as much talent as we thought we did last year. Most of the players just weren't as good as we thought they were. On a good First Division club, except for Yogi everybody would just be a backup -- referring to the returning players here. We will have to stake our claim on the proposition that having more coverage/depth will allow us to overcome those shortcomings. The simple fact of the matter is that better players didn't want to sign with us due in most cases to the fact that Persigubin is a club that doesn't have a reputation of being a solid First Division club. We need to scratch and claw to establish ourselves before we can do much of anything about that, and find a way to make it work.

Teamwork, Aggression, Work Rate are strengths: decisions, passing, strength weaknesses.


Keepers

Ferminus(30, 2.3M)
Roni Setia(17, 1M)

Progression: Both keepers should be marginally improved over last season. Other than that, nothing's changed. We still think Setia has significant potential.

Assessment: Overall credible but a little below average. Command and one-on-ones are still the biggest weaknesses, kicking and much-improved aerial ability the biggest strengths.

Defense

DR Dahrul Topansyah Saragih(25, 2.2M)
DC Iskandar Muda(28, 1.3M)
DCR Ben Onisius Benoni Patay(28, 1.7M)
DL Ignasius Kasipmabin(36, 1M)
DR Piterius Piter Urwan(31, 1.5M)
DRCL Adi Eko Prasetyo(25, 1M)
DL Ferry Kombo(19, 2.75M)

Progression: We have seven defenders instead of five. I don't think any of them are as good as Sutiono, so we lost some ground there but should have a much better chance at finding a solid group of four here. Last season we had to play guys out of position fairly often and were usually stuck with slumping players like Fitriandi. Young Kombo has the edge on Prasetyo for the starting spot on the left, Muda and Patay will likely go in the middle, and Saragih is probably the best of the punch on the right. We'll also be working on improving the vesatility of Prasetyo(learning the left spot) and Saragih(learning the center spot).

It looks like our top returning player(Urwan) is on the bench for now. That could be a strong indication if it stays that way.

Assessment: Marking is a strength now and much-improved, tackling and esp. acceleration where we are in the top quarter of First Division clubs are the biggest plusses. The defense is still very weak in the air, and on the whole still classifies as below average.


Midfield

MC Frans Yarangga(27, 2.75M)
MC Herlan(24, 1.3M)
MC Dodi Saputra(28, 1.2M)
MRC Patrick Adie(35, 1.3M)
MLC Melianus Ningmabin(31, 1.8M)

Progression: We're still really weak on the left where we no longer consider Ningmabin to even be worthy of playing at this level -- but he's the only option. Adie is passable on the right, and we'll be much better than before in the middle with Yarangga pushed by Herlan and Saputra, one of whom can play if we want to go four wide. Simply going with a narrow three in the middle is also an option, which would leave Adie/Ningmabin as our bench.

The overall talent here is much better than last year though, no doubt about it, five bodies instead of three as well.

Assessment: Good technique and long-range shooting ability to complement the scoring efforts of the attacking corps. We have one of the worst tackling midfields in all of First Division, but that's really the only big weakness with decision-making also not impressive -- overall this unit is average or better, a huge improvement. The two new additions appear to be major upgrades in that sense.


Attack

AMC/ST Imam Bayhaqi(21, 2M)
AMC/ST Fabian Yogi(30, 3.75M)
ST Engel Ewangin(37, 3.5M)
AMC/ST Yustinus Oropka(29, 1.5M)
AMC/ST Pamungkas Yuli Sutanto(17, 900k)

Progression: The development of Sutanto will hopefully continue, and Bayhaqi should replace most of what we got from Uropmabin last year. An added benefit is he has a much higher ceiling. We have four AMC/ST combo players, three of which are better at the attacking midfield position and the fourth(Oropka) is equally bad at both.

Assessment: We're fast and decent in the air, but not great acceleration or movement off the ball. Anticipation and finishing both close and long-range are all very average, and that's how I view the group as a whole also.


Overall: We're much better on the attacking half than the defensive half, and once again will be a counterattacking club. With a larger and for the most part deeper squad, we will be able to be a bit more flexible than last year. The 4-3-1-2 will still feature as our most attacking variant, with a 4-4-1-1 and 5-4-1/5-3-1-1 also in the cards for more conservative play.

We have double the players who appear to have it what it takes to become stars in this league that we had last year. To GK Roni Setia and AMC Pamungkas Yuli Sutanto we have added AMC Imam Bayhaqi and DL Ferry Kombo. All are in the 17-21 range. Hopefully they can grow together and do some special things. But if we don't get six points from our first five matches, I won't get to concern myself with that.

Semi-Random Preseason Notes

** Ningmabin doesn't train well, apparently thinking he doesn't need to apply himself anymore. On the other hand, Kasipmabin and Ewangin do quite well. It appears the veteran striker wants to go out
with a bang. Among the youngsters, Sutanto and Bayhaqi also impress.
** Uropmabin is now officially gone. The fans do not approve and are saddened by his departure(35% approval). They're not wrong -- the way I mishandled his contract situation was my biggest screwup last year. I can only hope Bayhaqi makes people forget him.
** Low player bonuses assigned due to financial problems and the payroll being over-budget. Ningmabin, Kasipmabin, Sutanto, and Herlan did not react well, most of the squad is fine. We'll have to watch those guys.
** We adjust to a small, narrow pitch this year as our strategy depends heavily on playing through the middle: decreasing the impact of wide players can only help us.
** Adie continues to have injury problems. A late September torn calf muscle sidelines him for a majority of the year. He's been our most injury-prone player and his last chance to do anything of significance of Persibugin may have just ended: I don't expect him to be back. His 1.3M contract isn't much, but he'll be 36 next year and can't stay healthy.
** Errors in defense have continued during the friendlies so our ability to keep opponents off the board is a big question mark.
** Proving the accuracy of the thread title, a week before the start of the season a I realized I had the match training slider set wrong ... I was spending no time instead of max time on our tactics. I knew we should have been making faster progress .... **swears at self in disgust**

Well it's finally here. Six points in five games, or my butt is gone and possibly my career over. Adie is our only injury to concern ourselves with. We will have the first, third, and fifth of that set at home, which is a bit of a break. I feel very good about what happened with the squad over the off-season. We're deeper, more balanced, and have more talent for the future. Bayhaqi should ease the loss of Uropmabin, and I really like the athleticism and dynamic addition that Saragih looks like he can provide -- he's contributing nicely to our offense.

[Brian Swartz]

** For the start of the year, I'll mention that current game date is December 1, 2017. I'm just over three years behind but am starting to get a rhythm in putting the updates up and hoping to close the gap a little quicker **

10.11 vs. Persenga. An old friend from last year(1 win, 1 loss), when they finished 8th as a double-edged offensive-minded club that allowed more goals than anyone save relegated Persatu but had a moderately successful attack. We are tight 5-4 favorites, and obviously need a result here.

We go out in our 4-3-2-1, my tactic of choice unless the opponent forces us to go more defensive. They've got the standard 4-4-2.

1' -- Wasting no time in giving me a heart attack, they put a floating cross off the top of the bar, Ferminus jumps but doesn't get there, it bounces directly in front -- but Saragih gets to it and volleys a clearance. That's making an immediate impact ...

7' -- Yogi sets up Ewangin for the first decent chance, he's wide right from about 17 yards or so.

15' -- I like what I've seen from us so far, we're winning most of the battles and have a good handle on possession. They have yet to get off a shot. We'll stay with this approach.

17' -- Ewangin blasts one from the edge of the area, but it's right at the keeper and bounces off him.

18' -- Herlan with a decent attempt just outside, their keeper anticipated the cross-angle and grabs it.

21' -- Herlambang gets a hand on another long shot by Ewangin, a corner goes nowhere.

30' -- Yogi has a crack but tries to get too cute and set up a better one, they clear it out. Still probably a good idea as we are getting tons of shots but nothing on the board yet.

32' -- Warman leads Sunari, all alone in on Ferminus, a better chance than we've yet seen ... outstanding save by Ferminus who tips it wide for a corner! That had disaster written all over it. A tight-angle shot off the corner is blocked off the line by Kombo. Be still my beating heart, we almost fell behind there twice after dominating the first half-hour.


HT -- I tell them we've been unlucky so far, which apparently was the wrong thing to say as they walk out muttering and shaking their heads. Superb. 53% possession, outshooting them 12-3, I like everything but no goals.


49' -- Yarangga takes it away as he does so well, up the middle to Ewangin, lays it off right and Herlan is there, he's in alone and the keeper gets a piece but not enough! That bouncer is in for the score, and we take the lead 1-0!! He was actually looking for Yogi there, but Herlan had the better angle and cut inside to take the pass.

It took us into our fourth game last year to score -- this year just over a half.

57' -- A straight-on freekick by Ewangin is well high. We're still in control and they've not attempted a shot this half, so I make no changes.

64' -- Another turnover forced by Yarangga ends in a wrong-footed Ewangin attempt that's well wide. He had to rush that one.

69' -- Hideous coverage sends Sunari free on a freaking inbound throw from their side of midfield, thankfully he impatiently lobs one high and left.

70' -- Beautiful play! After some chaotic possession battles at midfield, Saragih finds Yogi in the right side of the area. He's in on the keeper with a fine chance ... but passes left to Bayhaqi who has a better chance at an open net!! 2-0, and I will take no chances. We switch to the 4-4-1-1 and tighten up at the back. Ningmabin on for Bayhaqi.

72' -- A long freekick is sent to Ferminus who bobbles and drops it ... bit of luck there that nobody was close enough to make us pay. The resulting corner goes to the far post where Ahman has a decent look but heads it wide.

75' -- Yarangga picks up a yellow and I tell him to back off, no point in risking any nonsense here.

77' -- Angled freekick just outside of the area, but they send it to another zip code.

81' -- Oropka for Ewangin just to get him some time on the pitch.

87' -- Ruminsir crosses for Warman, Ferminus guesses left and he heads right from 8 yards out, easy score! 2-1 now ... let's not blow this win boys!? It looked like Patay had him, then lost him and reacted too late.

89' -- Herlan to Oropka to Saputra who easily puts an angled shot past their keeper, and as they push for an equalizer we come back the other way to put this game away. It's 3-1!!


FT -- A fantastic way to start the year! We win 3-1, getting a score from each of our three new offensive acquisitions, with Herlan and Saputra the best of the bunch in this one. One more win from any of our next four matches, and the board's demands will be met(for now). Though he did give up a goal later, Ferminus's first-half save was really the biggest moment in the match from my perspective: it kept us even until we were finally to bang home some goals after the break.

And how about this: 225 attended this one! We never had more than 96 last year(for the Indonesian Cup), so it appears the new ground is making a difference after all.