The Al Shabab Post
Squad19 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amer Al Shamsi
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Feb 2029
Al Shabab tear Al Shaab apart
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Al Shaab, and it could have been more.
Market19 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Youssoufou Niakaté
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youssoufou Niakaté will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Shabab the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Al Shabab
Abdullah Mabkhout 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.
The terraces19 Feb 2029
One of their own: Ahmed Obaid
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.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Ahmed Yaqoob
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Ninety minutes of Hamza Sakhi at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Shabab.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Bruno in the eights
A performance of 8.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Fernando Barbosa in the eights
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
In brief
- Loan watch Hamdan Omar has seen enough of Al Jazira
- The dugout A satisfied Ismail Khalfan
- The dugout Nasser Omar knocks on the manager’s door