He is 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taher Mohamed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Fahad Suqrat, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hamdan Juma is living that version at Al Shabab, and it tends to show in the first month.
Afriyie Acquah 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Mohamed 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.
A brace, and Sultan Nader takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sultan Nader provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Al Wahda held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al Ahli answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hassan Al Shamsi on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamdan Juma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutLiam Giménez knocks on the manager’s door
Player ratingsFaisal Yaqoob beats them one at a time
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sultan Nader. 3‑1 against Emirates Club, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Liam Giménez 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hassan Al Shamsi on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Al Ahli have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Amer Hussain
The phone has started ringing about Amer Hussain again, and this time the name on the line is Haras El Hodoud. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Al Ahli have made the call to Red Bull Salzburg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
They sit in position 6 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Hamdan Juma are not good