Pre-Preparation
After a disappointing campaign in 2013, Persija made a couple of head-start moves for the 2014 season. For example, even before the year 2013 was over, Persija was the first team among other 2014 Indonesia Super League (ISL) contestants who launched their official jersey. Also, still in 2013, Persija started their preparation program ahead of any other teams by holding and participating in the 2013 Trofeo Persija. They invited Arema, Army United FC (Thaliand) and PDRM FA (Malaysia) to the mini-competition. The Kemayoran Tigers managed to win twice against the foreign invitees (2-1 vs PDRM FA, 4-1 vs Army United), but those weren’t enough to stop Arema from winning the title. Collecting the same number of points as Persija, The Crazy Lions claimed the first spot on goal productivity. It was the first Trofeo Persija won by a team other than Persija.
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2014 Trofeo Persija Logo
source: sidomi.com |
Along came 2014, Persija participated in the 2014 Inter Island Cup (IIC) held by Liga Indonesia. A traditional pre-season competition as a warm up before the season starts. But just like in previous editions, Persija failed to proceed from the qualification phase. Only got 2 points from 3 matches put Persija behind Arema and Persela in Java – Group 2. The result concluded Persija’s preparation before the 2014 ISL curtain raiser.
Squad
The departure of the prolific striker Emmanuel Kenmogne left a huge hole in Persija’s arsenal. For over 2 months, Persija tried to find the replacement. First, they invited Shaka Bangura for trial during the 2013 Trofeo Persija. The Sierra Leonean failed to impress Benny Dollo and got dumped right after. Then, they put the Argentine Mario Costas (former Persela) on trial for the 2014 IIC. He scored 2 goals in the campaign, but the coaching staff saw no improvement in weeks prior to the start of the competition. Suddenly, the management announced that they have secured the service of a former FIFA World Cup participant from Croatia. It was Ivan Bosnjak who got the honor to join the squad. The former DPMM (Brunei Darussalam) striker also got to wear the no. 10 jersey.
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Ivan Bosnjak, former Croatian international who played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
as Persija's big signing for the 2014 ISL
source: bolaindo.com |
As the new foreign players’ composition rule put in effect in the 2014 season, Persija used the maximum quota of 4 foreigners in their squad the whole season. After updating Fabiano da Rosa Beltrame and Rohit Chand’s contracts, as well as securing Bosnjak’s role, the management signed Bosnian Zelimir Terkes to accompany Bosnjak upfront.
As for the locals, Benny Dollo’s tendency to trust young players made the squad filled with youngsters. Names from the previous season like Dany Saputra, Andritany Ardhiyasa, Syahrizal, A. A. Ngurah Wahyu, Ismed Sofyan, Amarzukih and Defri Riski filled the squad’s list along with familiar new recruits of Egi Melgiansyah, Victor Pae, and Agung Supriyanto. Rizky Ramdhani Lestaluhu is also among those names, following a not-so-good season with Sriwijaya FC. April Hadi also joined the nation’s capital club from PSPS.
As the first half of the season finished, a couple of changes were made. Very poor performance from Zelimir Terkes put the Bosnian on the outgoing box. His last ever match for Persija was in a friendly against Ajax Amsterdam on May. He left Jakarta with 0 goals and only 4 appearances throughout the season (2 in ISL and 2 in friendlies). To replace him, the management invited Habib Bamogo for a taste in the friendly against Ajax, but the Burkinabé’s unfit posture dissatisfied the coaching staff. Luckily for Persija, Persipura surprisingly released Boakay Eddie Foday from their squad just after the Liberian scored 5 goals for the Papuan team in the 2014 AFC Cup campaign. Without further ado, Foday was given the no. 25 orange jersey of Persija.
Poor performance was also the reason behind Rudi Setiawan’s loan release to Martapura FC.
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Ponaryo Astaman returned to Persija
source: persija.co.id |
2
other additions to the squad made in the 2nd transfer window involving
Agus Salim from Persipasi and ex-captain of the Indonesian National Team
Ponaryo Astaman from PSM. Salim was Persipasi’s top scorer at the time
before he moved to Jakarta.
The
media flown over a gossip that said “Ex-Persija is about to return to
Jakarta.” Of course, the first name came out on the fans’ minds was
Bambang Pamungkas. But it turned out to be Ponaryo Astaman. The deal was
made hours before the 2nd transfer window was closed.
Campaign
Please follow this link to visit Persija's 2014 ISL season results
1st phase
Persija started the season with a rare away win over Barito Putera at Demang Lehman Stadium. Rohit Chand scored Persija’s first goal of the season only 3 minutes after the kick-off. Ramdhani Lestaluhu secured Persija’s first 3-point with a late 83rd-minute goal.
On their first home game of the season, they beat Semen Padang 2-0 in front of 23,000+ crowd of Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Main Stadium. Bosnjak scored his first goal for Persija from the spot, while Rachmat Affandi’s header ensured Persija’s 1st home win.
Their next fixture was a tricky one: away to Bandung against Pelita Bandung Raya (PBR), where their former icon Bambang Pamungkas plays. For the 1st and 2nd time on the history of his career, BePe scored 2 goals to Persija’s net in that fixture. However, Persija struck back and equalized with Bosnjak’s penalty and April Hadi’s header.
They supposed to face Persib on February 22, but due to no permit issued by the authorities, the match was postponed to May 8. Until that date, Persija went through 3 wins (1-0 vs Persita (H), 2-0 vs Persijap (A), 1-0 vs Gresik United (H)), 1 draw (1-1 vs Sriwijaya FC (H)) and 2 defeats (1-2 vs Persik (A), 0-1 vs Arema (H)). Along came May 8, Persija brought home a point from Bandung after a scoreless draw against Persib. The match was enlivened by bottle throwing and intimidation towards Persija players. Those results put Persija on the 3rd spot of the West Conference table at the half-season break.
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Team huddle before kick-off
source: persija.co.id |
2nd phase
0-1 defeat in Malang and 1-1 draw against Gresik in the first 2 matches of the 2nd phase pulled Persija down to the 4th spot of the table. They strived back with a double win at home, 4-1 against Persijap and 1-0 against Persik. Their trip to Palembang resulted in a 1-3 defeat against Sriwijaya FC. Before the 2-month break due to series of local and international events, Persija recorded their biggest win of the season over Persita with a 4-0 away win. At this point, Persija was still on the 4th position.
Right after the break, Persija hosted Persib in front of a capacity crowd of 66,000+ at GBK. The number became the 2nd highest attendance record in the history of ISL, right under full house crowd of 85,000 in 2010 when Persija hosted Arema at the same place. Unfortunately, the match couldn’t keep up with the atmosphere of the stadium and ended scoreless.
Next up, another visitor from Bandung who also brought Persija’s goal scoring record holder, PBR. A win would have put Persija on the driver’s seat towards the last 8. Sadly, Bambang Pamungkas had a different idea and agenda. His masterpiece header strike almost put Persija in misery on their spot, before a very late controversial penalty from Ponaryo Astaman saved the home side from humiliation. Nonetheless, the result turned out to be very decisive and determined Persija’s outcome of the season.
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Bambang Pamungkas, 3 goals in 2 matches against Persija
source: bolanasional.co.id |
Next match away to Padang against Semen Padang was considered as the decider of whether Persija would qualify to the last 8 or finish the season earlier. A scoreless draw in H. Agus Salim Stadium followed by a double win by PBR at the end of August kicked Persija out from the top 4.
On the last day of the regular season (9/5) an unsurprisingly odd fixtures set up by the league operator, PT. Liga Indonesia. Instead of playing all 10 games at the same time, they decided to separate the kick-off times, including those involving Persija and PBR. Persija had to wish that PBR would drop a point or two in Karawang against Persita, while hoping for the best to beat Barito Putera in GBK. But there was no drama on the stage. PBR who player as early as 15:30 ensured the 4th spot for themselves by winning 3-1 against Persita. To put insult to injury towards Persija, two ex-Jakartans scored the goals for PBR (BePe and T. A. Mushafry). Thus making Persija’s last match against Barito Putera at 19:00 had no importance other than a formality. A 3-1 victory over the visitor from Banjarmasin meant nothing, as the fans were yelling for the management to step down. That concludes another disappointing season for the Kemayoran Tigers.
At the end of the season, Persija sat on the 5th position with 34 points from 9 wins, 7 draws, and 4 losses. They scored 27 and conceded 15 goals throughout the season, with 9 clean sheets on their name. Persija is one of the team with no player sent off in the 2014 ISL, along with Persela. The immediate outcome from the campaign is that Benny Dollo will no longer stay at the club for the 2015 season.
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Players and officials giving salute and appreciation to the fans
source: tribunnews.com |
Player Stats
6 Persija strikers in the 2014 ISL only scored 9 goals in total (Ivan Bosnjak 4, Rachmat Affandi 2, Boakay Eddie Foday 2, Agung Supriyanto 1). The midfielders contributed more goals with Rizky Ramdhani Lestaluhu came up as Persija's top scorer of the season with 8 goals. Other midfielders who scored are Victor Pae (3), April Hadi (1), Ponaryo Astaman (1), and Rohit Chand (1). Captain Fabiano da Rosa Beltrame scored 3 header goals, and 1 goal came from A. A. Ngurah Wahyu Trisnajaya.
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Rizky Ramdhani Lestaluhu, Persija's top scorer in the 2014 ISL with 8 goals
source: sidomi.com |
Fabiano and Andritany Ardhiyasa collected more appearances and playing minutes than any other Persija players this season. Each of them played 19 times for 1710 minutes in total throughout the season.
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Andritany Ardhiyasa and Fabiano da Rosa Beltrame, 19 apperances, 1710 minutes each.
source: indopos.co.id and mediasepakbola.co.id |
Fabiano and Victor Pae received most yellow cards for Persija this season. Each of them collected 5 yellow cards.
Table Movement
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Persija's table movement on the 2014 ISL West Conference Classification
click on image to enlarge |
Team Records
Attendance
Persija’s management in the 2014 season has shown quite of an improvement. One obvious example would be the sponsor’s logo on Persija’s jersey.
They also launched a new fans hospitality program called “Persija Card”, which can be used to book ticket, on-line. As far as I’m concerned, they’re the first Indonesian club who does that. The impact was very significant. Persija recorded highest attendance record of the season with 258,051 in total from 10 matches held in GBK (average 25,805). The number trails Persib’s as well as Arema’s with significant difference.
Persija's Home Attendance Record in the 2014 ISL
click on image to enlarge
TV Broadcast
The deal with pay-based television has brought quite a benefit for the 2014 ISL contestants. More matches being broadcasted live this season, and Persija made the most from it. All 20 matches in which Persija was involved were being broadcasted live. The record they shared with Persib and Arema.
yellow card = 1 point/yellow card
2nd yellow card = 2 points/2nd yellow card
direct red card = 3 points/red card
games of suspension (player) = as many as banned games
games of suspension (club's personnel) = 5 points/banned games
audience behaviour = determined by amount of fine
closure of stadium = 10 points/closure of stadium
