Marked for Mehdi Moharrami
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Alireza Ebrahimi damages knee ligaments — 144 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 144 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.
Match2 Sep 2026
Sepahan go through and Esteghlal Ahvaz go home, 0‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match5 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Esteghlal Ahvaz are no longer polite ones.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
A cup hiding at Sepahan leaves Esteghlal Ahvaz explaining themselves
0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Luis Caicedo 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Match5 Sep 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Beaten 5 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alireza Ebrahimi damages knee ligaments — 151 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 151 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
$72.0K. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.
Match29 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Mehdi Moharrami from Rah Ahan for $72.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Cristian López 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Cristian López
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Zob Ahan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market31 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Esteghlal Ahvaz
Mauricio Felipe arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by Saba, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mehdi Yazdani 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Esteghlal Ahvaz paid $72.0K and Rah Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ali Yazdani
“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.