Marked for Morato
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Ziyad Al-Sahafi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market10 May 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saad Al-Mutairi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 May 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Salem Al-Sulami has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout10 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Waleed Bakshween has written the date down.
Squad10 May 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 May 2027
Hassan Al-Nemer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Al-Wehda can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad3 May 2027
Farouk Chafaï was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Al-Wehda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Augustine Oladapo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout3 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ammar Al-Najjar is on it.
The dugout3 May 2027
Morato asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout3 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ahmed Al-Muwallad has written the date down.
Market3 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Wehda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Al-Wehda were not finished after all
Written off a fortnight ago, the squad has closed ranks and answered on the pitch. Something was said behind that door, and so far it is holding.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager plants his flag on Peter Olayinka
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Peter Olayinka’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Al-Wehda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Wehda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Wehda is running low.
Match26 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Wehda
Position 12 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Apr 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Darwin González wants continental football; whether Al-Wehda can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Wehda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Wehda, and 11 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
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The dugout
Morato knocks on the manager's door
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Market
Demba Diallo linked with a move away
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Ali Adnan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Al-Wehda
Position 13 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Peter Olayinka takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Peter Olayinka provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Al-Wehda
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Wehda are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Morato yet — 8.51
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.51 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Farouk Chafaï and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ibrahim Al-Ahmadi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market9 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Turki Al-Juhani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Al-Wehda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Augustine Oladapo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Al-Wehda's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Wehda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 Oct 2026
Al-Wehda cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al-Wehda
Ziyad Al-Sahafi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Morato makes it 200
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Demba Diallo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Farouk Chafaï has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑4 to Al-Ahli, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Al-Wehda
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Al-Wehda
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Wehda can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Wehda
Ziyad Al-Sahafi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match24 Oct 2026
Al-Wehda leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Augustine Oladapo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Morato did the work nobody counts — 6.69
9 combined actions and 6.69. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Sep 2026
4‑1, and Peter Olayinka took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Wehda tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Peter Olayinka, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.73, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Farouk Chafaï was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Hassan Al-Nemer, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
The afternoon ran through Morato
Chances created: 9. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Aug 2026
Peter Olayinka had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al-Ra'ed were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Peter Olayinka, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Wehda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Morato yet — 7.93
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Darwin González wants continental football; whether Al-Wehda can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Ahli is saying, and nobody at Al-Wehda is enjoying the guessing.
Market24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Ziyad Al-Sahafi joins from Al-Fayha in a deal worth $200.0K. Now comes the harder part.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at La Equidad is saying, and nobody at Al-Wehda is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Al-Wehda asked and Al-Nassr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Farouk Chafaï was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Al-Juhani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Khalid Al-Enezi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Turki Al-Ghamdi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeed Al-Qahtani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al Shabab: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al Ahli: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.