Marked for Otabek Ismailov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
36 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Aug 2027
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Obod
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match23 Aug 2027
Obod are in real trouble now
Position 16, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match21 Aug 2027
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 2‑6 beating by AGMK was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad23 Aug 2027
90 days out for Odil Akhmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match21 Aug 2027
Obod leaking at the back
9 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Diyorbek Asomiddinov has just signed for Obod, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Rustam Ahmedov, 33, rolls back the years — 8.64
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.64 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
31 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Obod may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
No sign of nerves from Sherzod Akhmedov at 17 — 7.90
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sherzod Akhmedov did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Pakhtakor, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Jasur Fayzullaev 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Obod and Metallurg in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match17 Jul 2027
A bad afternoon for Obod against Metallurg
2‑4 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Nodir Akhmedov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Obod's wait for a win
26 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Obod has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Anger at Obod spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match12 Jun 2027
Obod leaking at the back
13 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Market14 Jun 2027
Navbahor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Obod did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 Obod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pakhtakor is saying, and nobody at Obod is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Odil Abdullaev and Obod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Obod
Jasur Fayzullaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Obod
21 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match8 May 2027
Nowhere to hide for Obod
0‑7 against AGMK, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad10 May 2027
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 May 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Obod
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Market10 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match8 May 2027
7 goals as Obod and AGMK go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Obod and AGMK, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Obod
Aziz Hasanov 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Nodir Akhmedov 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 dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Akmal Fayzullaev has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
67 days out for Odil Akhmedov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Obod will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Obod had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pakhtakor, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jaloliddin Masharipov commits to Obod for another 3 years.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clock did what Lokomotiv would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odil Masharipov 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Jasur Fayzullaev loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Jasur Fayzullaev's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.