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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Esteghlal Khuzestan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Mohammad Sharifi 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. Lautaro Brienzo 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 21 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.
8.83. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal Khuzestan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Majid Gholizadeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esteghlal Khuzestan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Esteban Pavez 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.
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.
Esteban Pavez is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal Khuzestan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esteghlal Khuzestan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Amin Heydari 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. Mehdi Khoshbakht 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Javad Zergani and Esteghlal Khuzestan agree another 4 years.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Esteghlal Khuzestan is running low.
Mohammad Sharifi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abolfazl Koohi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esteghlal Khuzestan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Amadou Niang 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and 4 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Niang 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.
Aref Rostami 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.
Mohamed-Amine Ben Gammam is 20, and Esteghlal Khuzestan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esteghlal Khuzestan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abolfazl Koohi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esteghlal Khuzestan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAmadou Niang falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Esteghlal Khuzestan is running low.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Esteghlal Khuzestan is running low.
Mohammad Sharifi 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. Amadou Niang 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.
It needed Mohammad Mehdi Ghanbari to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Saba, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Nobody at Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 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.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 26 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohammad Javad Akbari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naft Tehran the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Palacios 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 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.
Hossein Saki 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Hossein Moradmand 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 5.67. 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.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Esteghlal Khuzestan is running low.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Niang 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Esteghlal Khuzestan told Hojjat Ahmadi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It needed Sepehr Simanpour to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Gostaresh Foulad, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The words a physio says slowly. 157 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.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Javad Zergani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Naft Tehran and Siah Jamegan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esteghlal Khuzestan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The shirt still fits. Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi is back at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Amadou Niang 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.
Siah Jamegan will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Faisal Al-Shamrani has pre-agreed a move to Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 164 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.
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.
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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Javad Zergani 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 name of Munther Al-Nakhli has come up in conversations Naft Tehran were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Persepolis held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Naft Tehran answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal Khuzestan can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Niang 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.
Aref Rostami 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.
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
The bid was some way short and Naft Tehran did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Palacios 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Javad Zergani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The fee is $210.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Gostaresh Foulad drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Hossein Moradmand 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Tractor the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Naft Tehran will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Javad Zergani, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Naft Tehran will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Hossein Saki 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.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
11 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal Khuzestan 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 Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
Javad Zergani, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-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.
Francisco Ayala 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.
5 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.
Mohammad Sharifi 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. Amadou Niang 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.
Nobody at Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
Javad Zergani, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Palacios 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Javad Zergani 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Palacios 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 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: Nima Entezari. 1‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Nima Entezari
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 28 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastián Palacios and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Palacios 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.
Amadou Niang 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.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Esteghlal Khuzestan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Esteghlal Khuzestan has been clear about where Amir Hossein Farhadi stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Palacios 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.
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Esteghlal Khuzestan has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Amadou Niang 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 4.67. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aram Abbasi 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.
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Esteghlal Khuzestan and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
13 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Naft Tehran has been clear about where Akbar Safarzadeh stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esteghlal Khuzestan can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aram Abbasi 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 easiest signature of my career.” Erfan Sazegari and Esteghlal Khuzestan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal Khuzestan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Esteghlal Khuzestan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mohammad Sharifi 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Aram Abbasi 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hasan Pourhamidi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hamid Golzari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.