Marked for Ignacio Vázquez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Jan 2029
Akhmat out of the cup
Sochi ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market8 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Akhmat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Akhmat
Oscar Naasei 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.25 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match6 Jan 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Gamid Agalarov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Akhmat.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Marked 8.85 — 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vadim Uljanov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.70 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jan 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Cukaricki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.57 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.91 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lazar Mijović, and the manager let it.
Loan watch1 Jan 2029
“I watch every Cukaricki game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Akhmat Grozny runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market1 Jan 2029
Vladan Novevski is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cukaricki has been clear about where Vladan Novevski stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Akhmat's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Akhmat has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Dec 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Olimpia will make the call about Gamid Agalarov this week. Akhmat have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
A performance of 8.99 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad18 Dec 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.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match16 Dec 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A season average of 7.26 with 3 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Cukaricki's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cukaricki has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Srđan Mijailović commits to Cukaricki for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch4 Dec 2028
“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 Cukaricki, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad4 Dec 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.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.56 on the card, and the Cukaricki support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market27 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Semyon Dzyuba
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Semyon Dzyuba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Akhmat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Akhmat
Oscar Naasei 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 ratings27 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
One of those days for Mehdi Zare
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad27 Nov 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
Baltika left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Nov 2028
The wait goes on for Cukaricki
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.
Squad6 Nov 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filip Žunić and Cukaricki agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch6 Nov 2028
“I did not go to Akhmat Grozny to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cukaricki and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Docić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Oct 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Cukaricki did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sambou Sissoko and Cukaricki agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A defender's afternoon for Ismaël Maïga
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A performance of 9.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch9 Oct 2028
“I did not go to Akhmat Grozny to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cukaricki and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad9 Oct 2028
6 goals and a season average of 7.48. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Javor-Matis, and it could have been more.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cukaricki may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Srđan Mijailović 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Cukaricki did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Marked 9.32 — 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A performance of 8.52 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Cukaricki are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
Srđan Mijailović 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 ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Jul 2028
The phone has started ringing about Ignacio Vázquez again, and this time the name on the line is Akhmat Grozny. Cukaricki are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Milan Pavkov gets it from the manager
“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.
Match29 Jul 2028
It needed Lazar Tufegdžić to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Radnicki 1923, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The terraces31 Jul 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Sambou Sissoko 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Jun 2028
Cukaricki refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 53 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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.
Market26 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Kolaković will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cukaricki the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Jun 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrej Pavlović, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A wage question at Cukaricki
Vuk Bogdanović has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Jan 2028
45 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Jan 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 Cukaricki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Jan 2028
Vojvodina made Cukaricki work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Marked 8.47 — 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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Dušan Jovančić
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
3 goals and a season average of 7.28. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Marko Docić 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 Cukaricki, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Emil Wind has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Jan 2028
Aalborg come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Viborg did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Lucas Lund 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. Viborg will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad3 Jan 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 Viborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Jan 2028
Yonis Njoh is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Viborg has been clear about where Yonis Njoh stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Jeppe Grønning 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 Viborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonas Dakir, and the manager let it.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Viborg pull $7.2M 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.
Market3 Jan 2028
The name of Oliver Bundgaard keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Viborg say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Dec 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Viborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A defender's afternoon for Žan Zaletel
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Viborg
Thomas Jørgensen 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 ratings13 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match11 Dec 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Thomas Jørgensen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Viborg.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The team sheet said everything about Stipe Radić
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Stipe Radić.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Musa Touré
“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.
Market13 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jean-Manuel Mbom signs something — a contract at Viborg or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Dec 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
Add another name to the list: Internacional have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Yoshan Valois. The answer from Lanús has not changed — yet.
Market6 Dec 2027
The bid was some way short and Lanús did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Lanús are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lanús this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Watson, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ignacio Roldán commits to Lanús for another 3 years.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I watch every Lanús game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Morón runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market6 Dec 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Lanús will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.