The Gostaresh Foulad Sentinel
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ali Nekounam runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gostaresh Foulad has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Gostaresh Foulad
Kaveh Pouraliganji 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
Masoud Beiranvand 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Ashkan Noorafkan takes the honours
Marked 6.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gostaresh Foulad had the best player on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sardar Vafaei knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sardar Vafaei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
- Squad The manager makes an example of Ali Vafaei
- Match Gostaresh Foulad draw a blank against Zob Ahan