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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The name of Khalid Rashid has come up in conversations Al Ahli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Al Ahli, 2‑1 the final word against Emirates Club in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Juma 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.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Ibrahim Suqrat, 19 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Al Kamali, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Abdullah Juma 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.
Yusuf Akçiçek 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Omar Al Kamali signs something — a contract at Al Ahli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The offer from Al Wasl for Ismail Omar 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.
Abdullah Juma 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Ahli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Abdullah Juma 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.