The BRI Super League runs for 10 weeks. What's the secret to a team's ability to compete at the top?

Entering the tenth week of the BRI Super League Indonesia 2025-2026, six teams have established themselves to heat up the competition at the top. Five teams have alternated in occupying the second to sixth positions, but Borneo FC remains at the top of the standings as they have yet to lose any points.

Unlike the other 16 teams, Borneo will only play their 10th-week match on Wednesday (5/11/2025) at 19:00 WIB, at Segiri Stadium, Samarinda, East Kalimantan. They are competing later due to adjustments made to the schedule of their opponent, Dewa United, who has just completed three matches in the group stage of the Asian Challenge League.

Despite not having played a match this week and still having eight games remaining, the team nicknamed "Pesut Etam" is key to achieving eight consecutive victories. In fact, they can continue their trend of earning three points when hosting Dewa, who have been inconsistent and have not won in their last three matches in the Super League.

The main key to the attacking line of the team coached by Fabio Lefundes is the effectiveness of utilizing opportunities. Borneo is a team that can be described as minimalistic in creating shots per match. Their total number of shots is 115.

The quantity of shots is significantly lower when compared to Persija Jakarta and Persib Bandung. The two teams have each produced 166 shots and 146 shots, respectively.

The shooting accuracy of Borneo players is not particularly remarkable compared to the five teams below them. The shooting accuracy percentage of Borneo reaches 37 percent. This figure is nearly similar to that of Persib and PSIM Yogyakarta, which recorded a shooting accuracy of 36 percent.

Discussing shooting accuracy, Borneo even lags behind Persija with a 40 percent accuracy rate. The two teams with the highest shot-on-target percentage in this season's Super League are Malut United and Persita Tangerang, both achieving a 41 percent shooting accuracy.

However, Pesut Etam is a team that does not need to create many shots to score against the opponent's goal. The record of 17 goals they have produced comes from only 2.5 shots on target. In comparison to the total shots, a goal from Borneo is created from 6.76 shots.

Effective attacks are generally produced through positive transitions and set pieces. This is because Borneo does not prioritize the philosophy of controlling the game. Lefundes maintains a gameplay approach that emphasizes results in Samarinda.

Borneo recorded an average ball possession of only 41.8 percent per game. With that percentage of ball possession, Pesut Etam is only better than Persebaya Surabaya, PSBS Biak, Persita, and PSM Makassar.

We have not yet been able to fully control the game. Nevertheless, we have managed to record a higher average success rate (in attacks) compared to the errors we still frequently make.

On the other hand, Persija and PSIM are the teams with the highest average ball possession in the Super League this season. Persija has a ball possession rate of 60.4 percent per game, while PSIM controls the ball with a percentage of 57.4 percent per match.

However, they need more shots to produce goals. Persija, for instance, requires 8.3 shots per match to shake the opponent's net.

PSIM requires 10.4 shots per match to score a goal. This figure is nearly identical to that of the defending champion, Persib, which also needs 10.4 shots to change the score on the board.

Meanwhile, Malut is the team with the highest conversion rate of opportunities. A goal produced by the squad coached by Hendri Susilo came from only six shots. Persita scored one goal from an average of seven shooting attempts.

Amid the effective performance of his team, Lefundes continues to demand that Borneo can perform better when in possession of the ball. He does not want the Borneo players to make mistakes easily, leading to a loss of possession.

"We have not yet been able to fully control the game. Nevertheless, we have managed to record a higher average success rate (in attacks) compared to the errors we still frequently make," said Lefundes.

Lefundes also has seven players who have already made their mark on the scoreboard. Mariano Peralta, a mainstay for Borneo since last season, leads his team's goal-scoring list with five goals.

Four other players from Brazil support Peralta's role as a goal source, having each scored more than one goal. They are Douglas Coutinho Gomes and Joel Vinicius Silva, with three goals each. Juan Felipe Villa and Maicon De Souza have contributed two goals each.

Defensive midfielder, Kei Hirose, has also scored one goal. Meanwhile, Muhammad Sihran is the only local player from Borneo who has scored a goal.

The goal scorer for Borneo also demonstrated one recipe for the team to perform well in attacking in the Super League, which is to have a striker from Brazil. In the list of the top 11 goal scorers in the Super League up to week 10, only three do not hold a Brazilian passport.

The list of top scorers in the Super League is dominated by Arema FC striker Dalberto with 10 goals. He is followed by Persija's Emaxwell Souza with eight goals, Persib's Uilliam Barros Pereira with six goals, and Peralta.

Subsequently, seven players have scored four goals, four of whom are from the "Samba Nation." The three non-Brazilian players are Kodai Tanaka (Japan/Persis Solo), Nermin Haljeta (Slovenia/PSIM), and Yakob Sayuri (Indonesia/Malut).

In terms of goal contribution distribution, Borneo is still better than its competitors. Persija, sitting in second place, heavily relies on the Brazilian duo, Emaxwell Souza and Allano Brendon, who have contributed 12 goals.

"From the start, I realized Persija had big goals. I came to help achieve them," said Emaxwell.

Persib is also still looking for ways to not rely on Uilliam. Only Andrew Jung has scored more than one goal aside from Uilliam. Jung's sole goal against Bali United was on Saturday (1/11/2025).

On the other hand, Malut has managed to become the team with the best attack thanks to the presence of a proven quartet of forwards in the Indonesian competition. Four players have scored at least three goals. Ciro and Yakob have each scored four times, while David Da Silva and Tyronne Del Pino have contributed three goals.

Of course, the even distribution of goals will determine which teams will compete for the Super League title at the end of the season.