Marked for Rashed Issam
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Jul 2028
The mood at Al Ahli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Manuel Lanzini damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jul 2028
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leandrinho and Al Ahli agree another 1 years.
Squad31 Jul 2028
The formation has left Leandrinho behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al Ahli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
Vinicius Mello knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 Jul 2028
Experience through the door at Al Ahli
Leandrinho arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market31 Jul 2028
The name of Bandar Al Menhali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Ahli say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Lanzini
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Ahli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Jul 2028
Al Ahli sink to position 14
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market17 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
An offer of $1.8M for Khauan
Al Ahli have gone to Al Ain 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 targets17 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Mabkhout 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.
Loan watch17 Jul 2028
“I watch every Al Ahli game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Jazira runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Rashed Issam 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.
Market17 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abdullah Mabkhout signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Manuel Lanzini damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Jul 2028
The chase for Khalid Obaid ended with $480.0K changing hands and Al Shaab out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Jazira have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Al Ahli are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Feras Saleh, and the manager let it.
Market10 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Youssef Al Hashmi signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Vinicius Mello wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al Ahli have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Al Ahli boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 May 2028
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Rashed Issam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Wages swallow 90% of the Al Ahli income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Market29 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad29 May 2028
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Al Ahli have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Market29 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Walid Nader may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces8 May 2028
Anger at Al Ahli spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 May 2028
“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 Al Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 May 2028
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Abdullah Khalfan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Stojan Leković'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.
The dugout8 May 2028
Joseph Aidoo without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Joseph Aidoo was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Al Ahli pull $1.1M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market8 May 2028
The name of Bandar Al Menhali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Ahli say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad8 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al Ahli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Vinicius Mello 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Thomas Amang’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces10 Apr 2028
Anger at Al Ahli spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Al Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Mabkhout 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Too much change too quickly at Al Ahli
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Stojan Leković is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Rashed Issam 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Apr 2028
The name of Bandar Al Menhali keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Ahli say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Al Ahli says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Feb 2028
The wait goes on for Al Ahli
33 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.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bandar Al Menhali, and the manager let it.
Match19 Feb 2028
0‑1 to Al Fujairah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Mabkhout 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Abdullah Obaid to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al Ahli pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Rashed Issam 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.
Market21 Feb 2028
The name of Joseph Aidoo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Ahli say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Al Ahli's wait for a win
32 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Ahli has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
The mood at Al Ahli has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match12 Feb 2028
Al Wasl left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
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.
Looking ahead14 Feb 2028
A six-pointer for Al Ahli
Al Fujairah next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Abdullah Obaid to a room that had heard them before.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Too much change too quickly at Al Ahli
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Match5 Jul 2027
Al Wahda up to position 3
49 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Al Wahda asked and Al Dhafra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brahima Diarra and Al Wahda agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Rashed Issam 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Intake day at the Al Wahda academy
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Al Wahda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Montenegro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Al Wahda than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout5 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 May 2027
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Match12 May 2027
The small margins put Al Wahda out
Out, 1‑6 to Al Jazira, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 May 2027
A cup embarrassment at Al Jazira follows Al Wahda home
1-6. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad17 May 2027
Dušan Tadić is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al Wahda will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Dušan Tadić, 38, rolls back the years — 8.35
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 May 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Dušan Tadić
10 goals and a season average of 7.45 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match12 May 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al Wahda and Al Jazira in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moussa Diarra, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
3 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
João Moreira 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.
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 Wahda, and 4 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Wahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Al Wahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hazaa Ammar 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Oumarou Diadje
“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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Abdulla Hamad has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Wahda 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Wahda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Apr 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 Christian Benteke has written the date down.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
25 starts now, an average of 6.67, and the team sheet at Al Fujairah has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Rashed Issam 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 Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Abdulla Hamad gets picked when it counts
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 Abdulla Hamad is on it.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Moussa Diarra’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes João Moreira a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Wahda. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Bernardo Folha knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bernardo Folha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.