Trakai made Suduva work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Amadou Sabo 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Steve Lawson 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Edgaras Lasickas on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Kaloyan Strinski was the best thing in any of them.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Suduva will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Suduva they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with NK Maribor, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Suduva asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Suduva will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Suduva have had the benefit of it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Amadou Sabo 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.
Domantas Antanavičius 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.
El Hadj Camara is 20, and Suduva have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Suduva will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
1‑0 against Neftchi, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Amadou Sabo was at the centre of the description.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Position 3, 27 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.
1 for Amadou Sabo, marked 7.95, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Francesco Albertini has just signed for Suduva, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Suduva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Sabo 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.
Petar Bosančić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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.” Edgaras Lasickas, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Suduva until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Levski is saying, and nobody at Suduva is enjoying the guessing.
The deal that would have taken Lucky Tom to Atlantas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Suduva with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jude Arthurs 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Suduva will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Zalgiris have accepted the money. What Suduva do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Kaloyan Strinski 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moutir Chajia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Suduva people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
$920.0K settles it between the clubs for Carlos Olses
Zalgiris have accepted the money. What Suduva do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Suduva can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Moutir Chajia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atlantas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Suduva is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zalgiris have kept their man, and Suduva go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Jude Arthurs 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 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Suduva people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suduva have done the hard part with Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The name of Rati Grigalava has come up in conversations Suduva were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Moutir Chajia 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Position 2, 17 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.
Dani Vega 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Edgaras Lasickas on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amadou Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suduva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jude Arthurs's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Suduva, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Kauno Zalgiris.
Nobody at Suduva 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.
Kauno Zalgiris next, and one man in the Suduva dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.