Marked for Ilja Antonov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Antonov, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Astemir Khezhev 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Rodina 2
4 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Rodina 2
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rodina 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gleb Knyazev 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I want to play”: Ilja Antonov speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Pavel Baranov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Pavel Baranov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Sep 2026
Rodina 2 sink to position 6
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Astemir Khezhev 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Rodina 2
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Beskibalny, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ilja Antonov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ilja Antonov
Nobody at Rodina 2 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The window shut and Artem Beskibalny is still in the building
Rodina 2 spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gleb Knyazev, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Rodina 2, 2‑1 the final word against Avangard in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Astemir Khezhev, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Artem Beskibalny
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Artem Beskibalny has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rodina 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Astemir Khezhev 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Rodina 2 have made Ruslan Maltsev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.