Marked for Reza Noorafkan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
Naft Tehran will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rah Ahan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Hossein Hosseini at 20 — 8.14
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hossein Hosseini did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Vouria 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Giulio Bonetti 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Giulio Bonetti 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Reza Noorafkan
“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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
6‑2, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giulio Bonetti 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ramin Hosseini at his very best
Marked 8.82. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rah Ahan.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 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 Rah Ahan, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Rah Ahan's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rah Ahan has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
Rah Ahan say no — this time
The offer from Gostaresh Foulad for Saman Hosseini was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match12 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Rah Ahan and Padideh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match12 Sep 2026
Hossein Khodadad scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Padideh, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Giulio Bonetti 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Beaten 4 times, with 0 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 11 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.
Market17 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Saman Hosseini, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vouria 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Giulio Bonetti 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 Aug 2026
Ramin Hosseini scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Sepahan, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giulio Bonetti, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Rah Ahan have let the market know Hossein Mohammadi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.