Marked for Hamdan Obaid
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Miguel Borja 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Al Wasl training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia 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.
Loan watch24 May 2027
Atiq Esam wants to come home
“I did not go to Al Fujairah to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Wasl and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 38 matches say the rest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al Wasl scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Renato Tapia 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Walid Ismail 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 Al Wasl this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
At 18 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Three points for Al Wasl, 1‑0 the final word against Al Nasr in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hamdan Obaid and Al Wasl agree another 2 years.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
The afternoon belonged to Serginho
7.53, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al Wasl had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
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Squad
5 new faces, and Al Wasl are still learning each other
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Market
Al Ahli are about to pick up the phone
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Market
Brahian Palacios linked with a move away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ibrahim Al Shamsi 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Hamdan Obaid has left for Al Wasl in a $380.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Point won or two lost for Al Shabab?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al Jazira? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Ismail Al Hashmi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Both of them Serginho's — 8.45
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Age has not caught Miguel Borja yet — 8.29
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market25 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Al Wasl did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Jan 2027
The fee is $380.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Shabab drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad25 Jan 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 Al Wasl this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Jan 2027
Al Wasl keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match23 Jan 2027
Al Ahli made Al Wasl work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 134% of everything Al Wasl earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Walid Rashid has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market18 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done: Faris Khalil joins from Al Wasl in a deal worth $280.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $280.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Wasl drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ismail Al Hashmi 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Three points for Al Shabab, 2‑1 the final word against Sharjah in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Sultan Al Suwaidi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.65. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ibrahim Al Shamsi 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Al Shabab. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ismail Al Hashmi. 1‑0 against Baniyas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Rashid 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rafael Arace gets it from the manager
“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
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ibrahim Nader damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Match26 Oct 2026
Al Shabab sink to position 12
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Walid Rashid at 21 — 7.85
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Walid Rashid did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match24 Oct 2026
Al Shabab are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“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 Al Shabab, and 3 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Majed Al Kamali had Al Shabab level again within 3 minutes, and Al Nasr never got to play with a lead at all.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Sharjah to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Shabab and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Match12 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ismail Al Hashmi
Nobody at Al Shabab is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Off the bench and decisive: Rafael Arace
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Al Shabab were going nowhere until he came on.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ismail Al Hashmi signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Squad24 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 Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.