There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Boubacar Diallo is living that version at Dubrava, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dubrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josip Elez 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.
Dubrava asked and Legia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boubacar Diallo is 18, and Dubrava have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Ruy is 20, and Dubrava have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Dubrava, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dubrava know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 11 and 17 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Dubrava can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vinicius Eduardo has, at Dubrava, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Josip Elez 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.
Dubrava asked and Volga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Bartłomiej Pawłowski was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ante Matić has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 1‑0 win over Dugopolje, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Dubrava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Matić 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.
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Milan Rebic, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Duje Matić 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.
3 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Duje Matić, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ante Matić 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Milan Rebic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Yegor Baburin's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dubrava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Elez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dubrava have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ante Matić 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Milan Rebic left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Boško Jemo signs something — a contract at Dubrava or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Melvin Rémy has written the date down.
Dubrava had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at ND Gorica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ivan Miličević 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josip Elez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
10 new faces, and Dubrava are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dubrava, another week without a signature from Daniel Katić.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniel Katić is living that version at Dubrava, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Amet Korça and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ante Matić 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.
Dubrava asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.