Marked for Masoud Taremi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for Rah Ahan
11 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
17 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with NEC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Masoud Shojaei 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 Jan 2028
Tractor left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Karim Vafaei 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Rah Ahan asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“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.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Rah Ahan's wait for a win
8 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Reza Taremi is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.33 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zob Ahan is saying, and nobody at Rah Ahan is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Reza 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Umid Mirzaev gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Umid Mirzaev has just signed for Rah Ahan, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Vafaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
A loan enquiry to Al-Nassr: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Match8 Jan 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Nov 2027
32 days out for Reza Moharrami after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rah Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Karim Vafaei 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.
Match27 Nov 2027
Foolad left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Amir Moharrami to a room that had heard them before.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Amirali Khorrami 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Mahan Beheshti
“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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Saman Nekounam dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Reza Moharrami out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match30 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for Rah Ahan
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Reza Taremi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Karim Vafaei 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 ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Masoud Taremi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match30 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Esteghlal will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
Reza Moharrami breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match25 Sep 2027
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Esteghlal Khuzestan had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Rah Ahan did not stop to explain themselves.
Match25 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, Rah Ahan do not lose
9 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Reza Taremi 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Vafaei 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Reza Hosseini. 1‑0 against Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Reza Hosseini at his very best
Marked 8.15. 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 ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Amir Moharrami, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.