Marked for Samandar Sindarov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 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 Sogdiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Jul 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Sogdiana did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Jul 2027
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Nikola Mirković knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ljupce Doriev 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 ratings19 Jul 2027
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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Otabek Jo'raqo'ziyev, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match17 Jul 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Bukhara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market19 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ljupce Doriev signs something — a contract at Sogdiana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
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.
Squad31 May 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 Sogdiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 May 2027
A 2‑1 win over Neftchi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Shots: 11, 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 May 2027
“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.
Market31 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Suhrob Izzatov signs something — a contract at Sogdiana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Apr 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad12 Apr 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 Sogdiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Apr 2027
Suhrob Izzatov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Navbahor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Fejsal Mulić 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 8.53 — 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Shots: 13, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Islomjon Qobilov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
5.67 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 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 Sogdiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The name of Ljupce Doriev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sogdiana say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Sogdiana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 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 Sogdiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Ljupce Doriev keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sogdiana say nothing, which says plenty.
Market1 Feb 2027
Sogdiana spent the window trying to move Otabek Ahadov on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Questions about Samandar Sindarov on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ljupce Doriev 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
328% of the income goes out in wages at Sogdiana
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samandar Sindarov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sogdiana
Position 14 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Suhrob Izzatov 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 Dec 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.