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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Los Angeles Football Club is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Smolyakov 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.
Mathieu Choinière 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.
Position 8, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Connor Robinson and Los Angeles Football Club agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Los Angeles Football Club, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathieu Choinière will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Los Angeles Football Club the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Artem Smolyakov 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Amin Boudri 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Igor Jesus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Dylan Nealis is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Los Angeles Football Club that is a harder question to answer.
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Los Angeles Football Club could get for him.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Malcolm Fry
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artem Smolyakov and Los Angeles Football Club agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amin Boudri 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.
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 Mathieu Choinière is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amin Boudri signs something — a contract at Los Angeles Football Club or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Los Angeles Football Club. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amin Boudri 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Los Angeles Football Club has been clear about where Ben Martino stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Los Angeles Football Club has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Los Angeles Football Club, and both men came out saying it was fine.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Los Angeles Football Club lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sergi Palencia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Los Angeles Football Club, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Jude Terry 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Los Angeles Football Club may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amin Boudri 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.
Keegan Hughes 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.
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 Diego García is on it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CF Montreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Cincinnati have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$780.0K on the table at Columbus Crew. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Los Angeles Football Club paid $1.7M and CF Montreal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson 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.
CF Montreal offered $86.0K; FC Cincinnati said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The name of Dante Sealy has come up in conversations CF Montreal were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ilay Feingold
The fee is $1.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. CF Montreal drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer went to Real Salt Lake this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Los Angeles Football Club have gone to Inter Miami CF 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.
Thomas Hasal 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.
Los Angeles Football Club have gone to Chicago Fire 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergi Palencia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Connor Pulisic after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CF Montreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Inter Miami CF this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$410.0K on the table at Toronto FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Dante Sealy 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.
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer went to CF Montreal this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Sergi Palencia 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.
Los Angeles Football Club have gone to Vancouver Whitecaps 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.
Los Angeles Football Club asked and Toronto FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amin Boudri 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.
Atlanta United FC 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.
Nobody at Los Angeles Football Club will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Artem Smolyakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Ceballos 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.
Dante Sealy 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CF Montreal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aidan Dausch has, at CF Montreal, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CF Montreal will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Aidan Dausch is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Daniel Pereira 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Velasquez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Ríos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CF Montreal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Romeo Padrón has just signed for CF Montreal, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Ceballos 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jorge Landeros and CF Montreal agree another 4 years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noah Streit trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Romeo Padrón is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.