Marked for Ehsan Shojaei
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Esteghlal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Esteghlal
Antonio Adán 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Esteghlal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Morteza Hajsafi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Antonio Adán gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Adán is on it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Ehsan Shojaei
“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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohammad Javad Mohammadi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Esteghlal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market20 Nov 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alireza Koushki signs something — a contract at Esteghlal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Karim Jahanbakhsh joins up with his country. Esteghlal lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Karim Ebrahimi sold
Tractor arrived with $3.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Karim Ebrahimi has gone, the accounts have $3.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
$1.4M was the most the club would pay and Sepahan were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Malavan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Rah Ahan asked and Esteghlal Khuzestan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market14 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Saman Nekounam has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rah Ahan.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Vahid Dejagah gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vahid Dejagah is on it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Saeid Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Gastón 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.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Karim Ebrahimi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rah Ahan say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Majid Noorafkan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rah Ahan.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sirvan Ghorbani, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 7.97 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rah Ahan had the best player on the pitch.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rah Ahan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Hossein Rezaeian kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
A promise honoured at Rah Ahan
Something was said to Ehsan Shojaei and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.