Marked for Jonata Machado
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $46.0K — a club that wants Awad Dahal enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
An offer of $43.0K for Awad Dahal
Al-Ta'ee have gone to Al-Ettifaq with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Al-Ta'ee asked and Al-Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Al-Njoom, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ékené Awazie in a row with a teammate
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-Ta'ee this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al-Khaleej: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Hamad Al-Dosari could afford to be generous.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ékené Awazie, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Salem Al-Toiawy had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeed Al-Sulami is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saad Al-Subaie 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 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ali Al-Juhani 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joy Manana and Al-Ta'ee agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Al-Ta'ee
Ékené Awazie and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al-Nassr: 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
Al-Mojzel have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Al-Ta'ee
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Squad
A row about effort at Al-Ta'ee
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: Al-Jeel at home
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Haquín and Al-Ta'ee agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Luis Haquín 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al-Ta'ee have made the call to Al-Riyadh. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al-Ta'ee
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonata Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.