Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
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.
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.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Al Wahda that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Wahda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Miguel Terceros has let it be known that he does not like the way Al Wahda are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
Al Wahda 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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The shirt still fits. Faisal Hussain is back at Al Wahda, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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 name of Leonel Wamba has come up in conversations Al Wahda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Wahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Wahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Alaeddine Zouhir has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al Wahda pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Wahda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mohammed Al-Shamsi will call it something else in private.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Wahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Wahda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Wahda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
“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.
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.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Dušan Tadić
“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 Wahda can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“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.
The name of Gerónimo Rivera has come up in conversations Al Wahda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Wahda hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.