Marked for Ehsan Gholizadeh
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2030
7 matches without a win for Saba
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.
Market25 Nov 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shahriar Pouraliganji will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Match23 Nov 2030
A bad afternoon for Saba against Saipa
0‑2 to Saipa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Nov 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Saba told Sardar Shojaei something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Nov 2030
5 matches without a win for Saba
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Nov 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
The manager makes an example of Erfan Bahri
“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 ratings11 Nov 2030
Ehsan Gholizadeh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Match9 Nov 2030
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Pejman Hajsafi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Saba 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.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market11 Nov 2030
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lucas Reis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Saba production line keeps running
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Market
Still no signature from Lucas Reis
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Sep 2030
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Sep 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Match21 Sep 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Sep 2030
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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Feb 2030
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match23 Feb 2030
The wait goes on for Saba
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.
Match23 Feb 2030
Saba cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad25 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
Esteghlal Khuzestan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Feb 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match16 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Saba's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Feb 2030
The goals have deserted Saba
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Saba can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Saba
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Feb 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Feb 2030
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match9 Feb 2030
The wait goes on for Saba
6 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.
Market11 Feb 2030
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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 Feb 2030
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match9 Feb 2030
The goals have deserted Saba
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Saba can tell you which week it ends in.
Match9 Feb 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Feb 2030
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 39 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match2 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Saba's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramiro Quintana and Saba agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match2 Feb 2030
Esteghlal left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Saba release $3.6M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Saba sign a deal worth $237.4K a year
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jan 2030
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Jan 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match26 Jan 2030
4 matches without a win for Saba
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Saba are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Tempers go at Saba
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Match26 Jan 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jan 2030
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Yuta Imazu says Saba went back on their word
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 19 actions, 6.73, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Market21 Jan 2030
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Mohammad Taheramini is a Saba player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad21 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Jan 2030
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Jan 2030
The run at home goes on for Saba
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market14 Jan 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Saba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Ehsan Taremi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jan 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Match5 Jan 2030
Gostaresh Foulad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A month that belonged to Ahmad Karimi
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Saba who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
Saba release $3.6M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Omid Yazdani
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Boardroom
The Saba production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Dec 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Dec 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match29 Dec 2029
Nobody wins at Saba
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Sardar Shojaei ran the middle of the pitch — 6.59
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 15 combined actions and a mark of 6.59, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Match29 Dec 2029
Whatever happens, Saba do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match29 Dec 2029
Three points for Saba, 1‑0 the final word against Siah Jamegan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 83 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
No sign of nerves from Ahmad Karimi at 21 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ahmad Karimi did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market17 Dec 2029
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Dec 2029
Only the photograph left for Yuta Imazu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuta Imazu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match15 Dec 2029
Saba make home a hard place to visit
10 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
The terraces17 Dec 2029
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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“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
Squad10 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Dec 2029
Nobody wins at Saba
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kaveh Moharrami, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Gholizadeh out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Dec 2029
Saba refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match1 Dec 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Alireza Rezaeian’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Saba.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
$3.6M on the table at Saba
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Marked 7.85. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alireza Rezaeian
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.64, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Lucas Reis: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Saba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Nov 2029
The wait goes on for Saba
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Ehsan Taremi 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
Nobody wins at Saba
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match24 Nov 2029
Honours even between Saba and Saipa
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The terraces26 Nov 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Nov 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alireza Rezaeian
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Nov 2029
A hiding for Saba
Beaten 0‑4 by Naft Tehran, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market19 Nov 2029
Only the photograph left for Yuta Imazu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yuta Imazu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alireza Rezaeian commits to Saba for another 1 years.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Oct 2029
Alireza Rezaeian damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
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.
Match27 Oct 2029
No mercy from Saba
Zob Ahan will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Saba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match27 Oct 2029
13 unbeaten for Saba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Saba did not have in the autumn.
Match29 Oct 2029
Saba up to position 2
24 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
A brace, and Ehsan Gholizadeh takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ehsan Gholizadeh provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market29 Oct 2029
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
31 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Sep 2029
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
A brace, and Saeid Noorafkan takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Noorafkan provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match1 Oct 2029
Saba refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match29 Sep 2029
9 unbeaten for Saba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Saba did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match29 Sep 2029
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Saeid Noorafkan in the middle of it, and Foolad unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Omid Yazdani did the work nobody counts — 6.84
10 combined actions and 6.84. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Saba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match15 Sep 2029
7 unbeaten for Saba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Saba did not have in the autumn.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
It needed Sardar Shojaei to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Siah Jamegan, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2029
The small margins put Saba out
Out, 0‑0 to Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match8 Sep 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Persepolis, and it could have been more.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Pejman Hajsafi decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
6 unbeaten for Saba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Saba did not have in the autumn.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes of Ehsan Gholizadeh at his very best
Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Saba.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Matías Alfonso: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Saba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Pouraliganji 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.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Saba support went home talking about one name.
Match1 Sep 2029
It needed Ehsan Gholizadeh to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Rah Ahan, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Sep 2029
Hadi Mohammadi is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Saba has been clear about where Hadi Mohammadi stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Aug 2029
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Saba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Noorafkan 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Ramiro Quintana
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Aug 2029
Lucas Reis hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for Saba
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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Keano de Haan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Saba
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad6 Aug 2029
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amir Moharrami has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kaveh Moharrami
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Saba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Saba are in Europe
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad4 Jun 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Saba have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jun 2029
“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 Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Saba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ehsan Gholizadeh and Saba agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Feb 2029
Sardar Gholizadeh damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Match19 Feb 2029
Saba refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
7.81, 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Saba
Pejman Hajsafi 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Rafael Rodrigues 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.
Match17 Feb 2029
Rafael Rodrigues scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Padideh, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Chances created: 5. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
In brief
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Boardroom
Saba keep producing them
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Boardroom
The Saba board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Jan 2029
Yuta Imazu hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Jan 2029
The bid was some way short and Saba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuta Imazu 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.
Match13 Jan 2029
Saba get the job done against Foolad
A 1‑0 win over Foolad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Jan 2029
No place for Yuta Imazu on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Saba pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
A mark of 7.83, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Rezaeian, and the manager let it.