Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
7 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.
7 goals in one match, Zé Bruno on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Van-2 and Noah-2.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
17 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 22 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑7 against Lernayin Artsakh, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Van-2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Van-2 and Lernayin Artsakh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Van-2 was different afterwards.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sardarapat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Van-2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Rodrigo Bazilio 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Bazilio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Van-2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Van-2 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Rodrigo Bazilio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Van-2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Van-2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Van-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Van-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hollman McCormick signs something — a contract at Van-2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Van-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
15 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Van-2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Van-2 can pretend not to have heard.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michael Asiryan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Van they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leo Reis 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kevin Pereira has written the date down.
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Van could ask drops and the wages Victor Pereira can ask rise.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Van, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Van they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Day 13 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Kevin Pereira 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Van lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Van people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Van until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Vitor Pereira 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.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Van lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Van this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Henrikh Grigoryan again, and this time the name on the line is Hayq. Van are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leo Reis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Van, and it is not being withdrawn.
Van have gone to Noah with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Pereira 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.
A loan enquiry to Ararat-Armenia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Van this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grafite 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.
Nobody at Van will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Van are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.