Marked for Diyor Rahmatullayev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Apr 2033
21 matches without a win for Qizilqum
The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Qizilqum are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Ilhomjon Vahobov 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.
Squad25 Apr 2033
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Apr 2033
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qizilqum.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
“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.
Match23 Apr 2033
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead25 Apr 2033
The leaders are next for Qizilqum
Pakhtakor top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
The plan did not have a place for Farhod Ahmedov
Nobody at Qizilqum is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Aug 2032
Qizilqum are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match21 Aug 2032
The wait goes on for Qizilqum
7 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.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Ilhomjon Vahobov 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.
Squad23 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Aug 2032
Andijon left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market23 Aug 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sherzod Ahmedov 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.
Market23 Aug 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Doniyor Nematov 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.
Market23 Aug 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dostonbek Ahmedov 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.
Market23 Aug 2032
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bobur Suyunov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2032
No end in sight to Qizilqum's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Qizilqum has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Aug 2032
A falling-out at Qizilqum
Nikola Kumburović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
Qizilqum have gone to AGMK 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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diyor Rahmatullayev commits to Qizilqum for another 4 years.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Words at Qizilqum training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alisher Shukurov 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.
Match7 Aug 2032
0‑1 to Kokand 1912, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
Nobody at Qizilqum 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jul 2032
4 matches without a win for Qizilqum
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Qizilqum are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Qizilqum
Shohrux Mahmudhojiyev 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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diyor Rahmatullayev and Qizilqum agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Qizilqum
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikola Kumburović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Aug 2032
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Doniyor Komilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market2 Aug 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timur Komilov 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.
Market2 Aug 2032
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Akmal Suyunov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market2 Aug 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bobur Akhmedov 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.
Match31 Jul 2032
0‑1 to Lokomotiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Qizilqum had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bunyodkor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings14 Jun 2032
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Shohrux Mahmudhojiyev 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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Nikola Kumburović 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 dugout14 Jun 2032
“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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Jun 2032
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Match14 Jun 2032
Halfway: Qizilqum sit in position 13
8 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Match12 Jun 2032
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
-
The dugout
Shahzod Rahmatullayev has become a man the manager trusts
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
The dugout
A promise honoured at Qizilqum
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Mar 2032
17 matches without a win for Qizilqum
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Qizilqum are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Nikola Kumburović 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Alisher Shukurov 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 ratings15 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mirkamol Annamatov and Qizilqum agree another 2 years.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
Grigol Chabradze dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match13 Mar 2032
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Nasaf defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market15 Mar 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Qizilqum know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jan 2032
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Qizilqum have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Qizilqum had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pakhtakor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad12 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qizilqum this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.