Marked for Samukelo Mlaba
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2032
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Apr 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pro Patria can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Apr 2032
The wait goes on for Pro Patria
4 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Georgi Tunjov
11 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Louka Gautier and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pro Patria now.
Match24 Apr 2032
Lumezzane left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to William Rovida, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Federico 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad29 Mar 2032
145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pro Patria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pro Patria may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match27 Mar 2032
Nobody wants to play Pro Patria right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Georgi Tunjov is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.43 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Pro Patria now.
Squad29 Mar 2032
A row about effort at Pro Patria
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivor Ribar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Mar 2032
Triestina made Pro Patria work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Jan 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Nejc Gradišar
24 goals and a season average of 7.45 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad20 Jan 2031
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.
Market20 Jan 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ittihad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market20 Jan 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wadi Degla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ittihad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match18 Jan 2031
Ittihad make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
“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.
Boardroom20 Jan 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Isaac Wakaso has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad20 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Ittihad
Hesham Balaha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Jan 2031
Ibrahim Hamdi damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
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.
Match4 Jan 2031
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Nejc Gradišar is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.41 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
Age has not caught Hesham Balaha yet — 8.37
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market6 Jan 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ittihad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market6 Jan 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Jan 2031
Ittihad make home a hard place to visit
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Hesham Balaha 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Dec 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market2 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ittihad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Richard Monday Ubong 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 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Ittihad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Tony was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Tony, and the manager let it.
Match30 Nov 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Dec 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ittihad know it.
Boardroom2 Dec 2030
Ittihad release $1.9M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.