The Fakel Courier
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
A brace, and Merabi Uridia takes the afternoon — 8.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Merabi Uridia provided it, and the 8.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Konstantin Polyakov says Fakel went back on their word
“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.
Market23 Oct 2028
Mikhail Tsulaia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fakel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Fakel
Dmitry Lesnikov 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
Merabi Uridia among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Merabi Uridia on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Fakel and Shinnik.
Match21 Oct 2028
Merabi Uridia sends Fakel past Shinnik
It finished 4‑2, and it was Merabi Uridia’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Fakel.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Fakel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clayton Sampaio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces23 Oct 2028
The crowd has taken to Matija Popović
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Stanislav Magkeev
“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.
In brief
- Player ratings Matija Popović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
- Player ratings One of those days for Rassambek Akhmatov
- The dugout Gennady Chernyshov: “That is the standard”