Persib Bandung played PSM Makassar in the opening match of the Liga 1 regular season on Saturday. The visitors took all three points with a 0:1 victory in front of their own supporters. By then, the new season had already started turning on a single moment.
K. Tanaka gave the hosts an early lead in the sixth minute, a quick strike that caught the defence flat-footed. Persib pressed high up the pitch from the start, and the pressure told almost immediately. To be fair, PSM had nothing to lose at this stage and simply waited for their chance.
The game changed shape at the break when PSM came out sharper. Those two goals in quick succession took the sting out of what had been a nervous first half.
Yellow cards for S. Jevtoski and M. Peralta around the fifty-fifth minute showed the tension rising. Persib pushed for an equaliser and Uilliam found the net in the eighty-second minute. By then, both sides had made their changes — K. Tanaka off for N. Foor, M. Peralta replaced by T. Haye.
The numbers told a familiar story: Persib dominated possession at 50 percent and registered 139 attacks compared to PSM's 99. They had five shots on target against three, but one mistake ends it when you're defending a lead. Both teams played with five outfield players, and the possession split evenly at 0.5 each.
This was the first match of the season for both sides, so the table still read empty — eleven and thirteen place with zero games and zero points. The result shifts nothing yet, but it sets the tone for what comes next.
