Marked for Lisandro Piñero
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 8.42
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad9 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Munas Dabbur scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Al Ain, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad9 Nov 2026
24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad9 Nov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Favio Álvarez out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Banfield will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match2 Nov 2026
Banfield refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 19 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.
Squad2 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 Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Banfield game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sepahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Munas Dabbur, 34, rolls back the years — 8.50
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Squad2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 90% of everything Baniyas earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match31 Oct 2026
Baniyas and Dibba take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Wesley at 21 — 7.95
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Wesley did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Munas Dabbur, 34, rolls back the years — 8.59
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.59 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Al Wahda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
João Victor 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguel Trauco
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 10.00
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lisandro Piñero is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over Sharjah, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saif Al-Menhali is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguel Trauco
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Saviour Godwin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.73. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad21 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alassane Diallo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Graduation day at Baniyas
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad7 Sep 2026
João Victor 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Khalid Rashid is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market7 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Khalfan Suqrat 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hamdan Al Hammadi 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Saviour Godwin at his very best
Marked 8.54. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Baniyas.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Bruno Sepúlveda 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 Aug 2026
23 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Neyder Moreno was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.73. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Banfield, 1‑0 the final word against Belgrano in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mauro Méndez 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.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market24 Aug 2026
At 34, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lisandro Piñero is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Favio Álvarez, 33, rolls back the years — 8.64
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.64 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market17 Aug 2026
RB Leipzig come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Banfield did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Bruno Sepúlveda 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Favio Álvarez 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Banfield have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with River Plate leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Aug 2026
Banfield say no — this time
The offer from PAOK for Gino Santilli was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Abraham and Banfield agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bruno Sepúlveda 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Kokand 1912 have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lisandro Piñero. The answer from Banfield has not changed — yet.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Neyder Moreno has his answer from Banfield; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago López García, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Favio Álvarez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.