The Saba Sentinel
Squad20 Nov 2028
Vouria Torabi damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market20 Nov 2028
Seyed Pouria Rafiei has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Saba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Saba
Abouazar Safarzadeh 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Mohammadzadeh 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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
When it matters, Mohammad Hossein Moradmand plays
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.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
A reunion for Abouazar Safarzadeh
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Padideh in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Arwin Javad 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 Arwin Javad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
A door opens for Shahin Shojaei
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market20 Nov 2028
Saba put Pouya Reshadi Mohammadi up for sale
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Pouya Reshadi Mohammadi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
- Squad “I want to play”: Mohammad Vafaei speaks
- Looking ahead Looking ahead: the trip to Padideh
- Boardroom The Saba production line keeps running