The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Taraz can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Everton Moraes wants continental football; whether Taraz can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everton Moraes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zhaqyp Qozhamberdi 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.
The loan was meant to give him football. 4 games and 0 goals later he is back at Taraz no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levian Ochieng 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.
Gaga Papiashvili 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS DGSSIE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Levian Ochieng’s negotiating for him
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Owen Reid’s negotiating for him
“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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Victor Otieno has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Victor Otieno was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ade Kristiano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and Idriss Djimet takes the afternoon — 8.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Idriss Djimet provided it, and the 8.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS DGSSIE and AS PSI, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Owen Reid 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Idriss Djimet has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The mood at AS DGSSIE has turned into something else
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.
“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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ally Yusuf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Idriss Djimet, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.04
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Victor Otieno. 2‑1 against Gazelle, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Victor Otieno has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Xo'jamurod Tursunov 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AS DGSSIE told Moubarak Djibrine something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
Shannel Makwata 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.
2‑3 to AS Etat Major, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levian Ochieng 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.
At 23 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Shannel Makwata 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. AS DGSSIE scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
6.75, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.43, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Victor Otieno. 3‑2 against US Moursal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levian Ochieng 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.
At 23 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS DGSSIE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Victor Otieno 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edward Omondi Ondimo 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.
Marked 5.28. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
“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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
SquadWords at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ally Yusuf has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levian Ochieng 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.
Darius Msagha 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
“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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 17, and nobody at AS DGSSIE signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yahya Salahshour trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 AS DGSSIE know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Position 13 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ade Kristiano 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.
In brief
SquadDanso Wiredu asks for a word with the manager
MarketThe clock does Danso Wiredu’s negotiating for him
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS DGSSIE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Ade Kristiano 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS DGSSIE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at AS DGSSIE 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.
“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 AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ade Kristiano 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS DGSSIE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Félix Noubara 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.