86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadEhsan Yazdani falls out with a teammate over standards
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Marked 6.77 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Pejman 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Masoud Vafaei has his answer from Gostaresh Foulad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gostaresh Foulad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Gostaresh Foulad spent the window trying to move José Rodrigo Lugo on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Vahid Noorafkan was one of the reasons people came, and $190.0K does not replace that by itself.
Omid Torabi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Hossein Pouraliganji leaves Gostaresh Foulad the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Hadi Baghban 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ehsan Yazdani and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Walid Al Bloushi is living that version at Gostaresh Foulad, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Amir Jahanbakhsh 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.
A loan is a long audition, and Amirmehdi Bahmanpour passed his months ago. Gostaresh Foulad sign what they already know — the rarest kind of certainty the market sells.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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 keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gostaresh Foulad, another week without a signature from Daiki Sakata.
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gostaresh Foulad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Ali Khodadad 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.
In brief
SquadEhsan Yazdani falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Gostaresh Foulad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmad Ebrahimi, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Luis Bonilla 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gostaresh Foulad is running low.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Ali Khodadad has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Siah Jamegan pay $170.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
The name of Vahid Karimi has come up in conversations Gostaresh Foulad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Esteghlal Khuzestan paid $95.0K and Gostaresh Foulad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
The phone has started ringing about Ali Khodadad again, and this time the name on the line is Bragantino. Gostaresh Foulad are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Gostaresh Foulad has been clear about where José Rodrigo Lugo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Amir Jahanbakhsh 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
In brief
SquadEhsan Yazdani has become a man the manager trusts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 May 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gostaresh Foulad is running low.
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadEhsan Yazdani has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gostaresh Foulad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Braian Aquino and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gostaresh Foulad are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Ali Khodadad 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ahmad Ebrahimi. 2‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Esteghlal Ahvaz tried to reorganise, Gostaresh Foulad did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gostaresh Foulad.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Milad Moharrami was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmad Taremi 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ali Khodadad 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“I watch every Gostaresh Foulad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Yousef Mazrae, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.12
A mark of 8.12 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Three points for Gostaresh Foulad, 3‑2 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Luis Bonilla 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Bonilla, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Ahmad Ebrahimi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I watch every Gostaresh Foulad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Gostaresh Foulad rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Naft Tehran had no answer to any of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Bonilla. 3‑2 against Naft Tehran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
At 21 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Partizan for Ali Khodadad was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Luis Bonilla 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
Amirmehdi Bahmanpour 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ali Khodadad 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Bonilla 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.
“I watch every Gostaresh Foulad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Luis Bonilla 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gostaresh Foulad can tell you which week it ends in.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“I watch every Gostaresh Foulad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Naft Tehran runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Omid Mohammadi had Gostaresh Foulad level again within 1 minutes, and Siah Jamegan never got to play with a lead at all.
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gostaresh Foulad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Ali Khodadad 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gostaresh Foulad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ehsan Yazdani. 2‑1 against Rah Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Ali Khodadad 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Gostaresh Foulad, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Gostaresh Foulad told José Rodrigo Lugo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gostaresh Foulad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gostaresh Foulad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.64, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gostaresh Foulad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gostaresh Foulad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Khodadad 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ahmad Ebrahimi scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Padideh, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ehsan Yazdani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gostaresh Foulad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Yazdani 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
“I did not go to Naft Tehran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Gostaresh Foulad and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad 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 Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Marked 7.81. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Yousef Mazrae 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yousef Mazrae is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ehsan Yazdani 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Mateus Anderson is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Ali Khodadad 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pejman Pouraliganji has his answer from Gostaresh Foulad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Gostaresh Foulad would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Ali Khodadad 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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ehsan Taremi 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.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ehsan Yazdani decided nobody was going anywhere. Rah Ahan 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, 7.92 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gostaresh Foulad 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 Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Pejman Pouraliganji 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.
The phone has started ringing about Vahid Noorafkan again, and this time the name on the line is Naft Tehran. Gostaresh Foulad are listening politely and promising nothing.