38 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.
Viktor Baier 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.
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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Navbahor know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Navbahor told Avazbek O'lmasaliyev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bunyodkor have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad31 Jul 2028
5 new faces, and Navbahor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Navbahor 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Navbahor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Navbahor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dilshodjon Komilov 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.
Navbahor asked and Bukhara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jasurbek Jaloliddinov. 2‑1 against Nasaf, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
20 appearances at Andijon and the goals have stopped going in. Navbahor lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Figueirense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Figueirense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Dylan Martínez again, and this time the name on the line is Imishli. Figueirense are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Figueirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tondela have kept their man, and Figueirense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Figueirense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Figueirense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The deal with Deportivo La Coruña is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesse Lingard was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Figueirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ruan Índio did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Figueirense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jesse Lingard 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.
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.
After 19 games, Figueirense finally taste it again
The first defeat in 19 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Volta Redonda; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Figueirense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Figueirense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Figueirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Figueirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emiliano Endrizzi 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.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Figueirense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Lucas Dias and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Zé Gabriel 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Figueirense has been clear about where Ryan Lima stands, which is more than many ever get.
It needed Jesse Lingard to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Barcelona de Ilhéus, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.