Marked for Simón Meza
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Baniyas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Shabab did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Wehda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Leeroy Owusu would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leeroy Owusu is living that version at Al Shabab, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Shabab heard it as anything else.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $150.2K — a club that wants Habib Yousuf enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mahmoud Al Hammadi and Al Shabab agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mahmoud Al Hammadi 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Al Shabab have gone to Dibba 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Simón Meza joins from Cerrito in a deal worth $140.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 7 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Matías Soto delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matías Soto scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Santiago Ruiz has agreed terms with Boston River for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market10 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Santiago Ruiz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Ruiz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerrito the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Cerrito
Francisco Casanova and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
Simón Meza has left for Al Shabab in a $140.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Santos 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Camilo Cardozo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Camilo Diaz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Shabab hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Bandar Al Bloushi again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Fateh. Al Shabab are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 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 Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Cerrito this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Al Shamsi 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al-Ahli: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Artigas spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Yepez and Cerrito agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Cerrito
Jonathan Ferrari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Santiago Viera 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Federico Andrade. 2‑1 against Artigas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Simón Meza again, and this time the name on the line is Al Shabab. Cerrito are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Santiago Viera’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.