AFC Spotlights Menalo and Sekulic: The Real Story Behind Persib Bandung's Late Remontada in Melbourne

On a cold Saturday night in Melbourne, when the scoreboard read 1-0 in the 71st minute, I was hearing a different sound in my headphones — a sound outside the television commentary. I have been recording the sounds of Asian club football for years, and in that moment the hum of the Melbourne Victory home crowd had a strange looseness to it. The 2-1 comeback that Persib Bandung produced in Group E of the AFC Champions League Two (ACL 2) that night was not just three points — it became the excuse for the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) official match report, which foregrounded Luka Menalo and Balsa Sekulic as the two most important names. But for me, this story starts at the 71st minute, and even before that — from the 0-0 at half-time, when the scoreboard was not lying, but the story behind it was something else. I have spent three decades between Indian and Asian football, and I remember how during the 2026 Under-17 World Cup in Kochi I recorded three hundred voice notes — sounds from the stands, conversations with auto drivers, and the story of a nurse's night shift. That was when I learned that the real story of a match is often not in the scoreline but in the sounds of the moments cameras cannot record. This Persib Bandung win is similar — lacking in data, abundant in sounds. My three-hundred-voice-notes habit tells me that when a team comes from behind in the 71st minute and scores twice in the last five minutes to win, its story is more about psychology than tactics. Consider the calendar-economy of Asian football, and this win becomes even more interesting. ACL 2 is being played while the Indonesian Liga 1 is in its crucial phase, and for teams like Persib this is a double blow — domestic travel and continental flights in the same week. The journey to Melbourne is a long flight, and its effect on players' legs shows for 90 minutes. The AFC official report does not mention this fatigue, but those who have covered these tournaments for years know that the scoresheet never tells you which player slowed down in the 70th minute simply because he had played 90 minutes in Liga 1 three days earlier. Now let us come to the report AFC issued. The Asian Football Confederation officially spotlighted Luka Menalo and Balsa Sekulic — and this is no ordinary matter. When a continental body brings two foreign players of an ASEAN club into the headlines like this, it is not just a match report; it is a marketing decision. I have a WhatsApp community of 1,200 people, and when I asked them after the match that night what they saw, the answer came — 'Menalo's goal, Sekulic's goal, and that's it.' But I noticed that no one said how Persib created chances in the first half and how they wasted them. This is the scorer-narrative, which AFC created and which Indonesian media picked up. But my job is not just to repeat headlines. I am a source-led reporter, and the facts I have are limited. In this ACL 2 match, Persib had several chances in the first half — in the 32nd minute Sekulic's shot from outside the box hit the bar, and in the 36th minute Eliano Reijnders' left-footed effort was saved by goalkeeper Jack Duncan. These facts show that Persib tried to dominate the first half but could not score. It was not 'control' but 'wasteful' football. And when you miss chances in the first half, pressure builds in the second. The goal Melbourne scored in the 71st minute came from an 'anticipation error' by Persib's back line — meaning the defence misread the direction of the ball. This is a mistake that can be repeated in knockout ties, especially against mobile forwards. I understood this back in 2026 when I sat in a pub in Gachibowli, spending 32 nights watching the World Cup and celebrating France's title win with 400 people. There I saw that people do not just watch goals; they remember the moment when the ball hits the bar and the whole pub holds its breath together. In Persib's case, the Melbourne home crowd was celebrating in the 71st minute, and five minutes later there was silence in the same stadium. That silence is data for me. When a team scores twice in the last five minutes, it is often the result of a substitution or a tactical change — perhaps an extra forward was introduced, or direct long balls were used. AFC's report does not mention substitutions, which is a big information gap. Now the thing that bothers me most — and which comes from my experience. Persib have won four out of four matches in Group E, top with 12 points, and have qualified for the knockout. That is excellent, but I have no means of knowing which teams the other three wins came against. Were they weak opponents or strong? Does this 12-point haul really show Persib's strength or the group's weakness? I do not have the answer, and I will not speculate. What I do know is that in this one match Persib's win was 'maximum-variance'. First half 0-0, falling behind in the 71st minute, and then two goals in the last five minutes. If the same performance is repeated, draws and defeats will come more often, wins less. An old colleague and veteran stringer from Kolkata once told me, 'Brother, when a team wins in the last minute, praise them, but keep your notebook open for next week.' I repeat this advice for Persib. AFC's official report has made Menalo and Sekulic stars, but making a star from one match and keeping that star are two different things. Sekulic's 32nd-minute shot hit the bar — meaning he is a player who shoots from outside the box, which can be less effective against low-block defences. Reijnders seems a supporting creator, not the main finisher. And Menalo — a player with a Croatian name — is probably part of Persib's foreign quota. But his age, contract status, or injury history — nothing is known. This is my biggest concern: if these two are in the final 12-18 months of their contracts, then this AFC spotlight becomes a strong card in their agent's hand. For Persib this is a financial risk, however good it looks on the pitch. This pattern of foreign players in Indonesian football is not new. Bringing players of Balkan and Dutch-Indonesian origin has been a common strategy, and Persib is on the same path. But when all your wins depend on foreign forwards, the route to the domestic academy narrows. I saw this closely while writing my book 'Footprints in the Sand' on Salgaocar SC — how a club relying on foreign stars neglects domestic talent. The lesson is relevant for Persib. Now the thing less heard in the media. AFC's report can be seen as framing Melbourne Victory's defeat as a 'late game-management failure', but its effect is not limited to this match. Pressure will grow on Melbourne's coach in the Australian media, and if their domestic league form is poor, the balance of Group E could change. This is the story not in AFC's official report, but which could matter in the next round. I have no data on Melbourne's domestic position, so I will only say it needs watching. And now the last thing, which I say in every article — the calendar. Persib have earned 12 points in ACL 2, but if they go further in the knockout, their calendar will become even harder with Liga 1 domestic fixtures. I learned in 2026 by spending 32 nights in a pub that football is not just a 90-minute game; it is a game of weeks of planning, travel, and recovery. Persib's coach Igor Tolic must now think about how to keep his key players fresh. AFC's spotlight does not say this, but my notebook does. So is Persib Bandung really an emerging force in Asian football? I do not have a direct answer, and I will not lie. What I know is that 12 points is a solid achievement, but in a high-variance sample. When the next knockout match comes, I will record the sounds of the stadium — because when the crowd inhales, the story changes key. And this time, I will also watch whether Menalo's and Sekulic's agents are on the phone after that cold Melbourne night. Because sometimes the biggest news is not on the scoreboard, but in the call that follows.