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.
Yasser Al-Sheikh 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Waleed Al-Shammari signs something — a contract at Al-Mojzel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Al-Mojzel 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yasser Al-Juhani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Al-Mojzel 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.
In brief
The dugoutAli Al-Ghamdi knocks on the manager's door
SquadQuestions about Omar Al-Sulami on the training pitch
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ahmed Al-Hassan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Ta'ee is saying, and nobody at Al-Mojzel is enjoying the guessing.
The deal with Al-Hilal is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ahmed Al-Hassan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sami Al-Sheikh did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Half the programme played, position 10, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Waleed Al-Juhani after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Sultan Al-Ghamdi is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amin Abu Khalifa and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years.
Talal Al-Juhani 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Waleed Al-Shammari 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Mojzel will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Waleed Al-Shammari did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nasser Al-Rashid 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Waleed Al-Juhani could afford to be generous.
Ali Al-Ghamdi wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Ali Al-Ghamdi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Al-Nahda went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ali Al-Ghamdi, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Talal Al-Juhani 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 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ibrahim Al-Dosari and Al-Mojzel agree another 1 years.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ali Al-Ghamdi decided nobody was going anywhere. Al-Wehda had no time left to answer.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.25 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saad Al-Dawsari. 1‑0 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.