Marked for Umid Mirzaev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Jun 2027
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match19 Jun 2027
Lautoka march on in the cup
Navua are out and Lautoka go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match16 Jun 2027
Lautoka through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over Navua, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match19 Jun 2027
14 unbeaten for Lautoka
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Lautoka did not have in the autumn.
Squad21 Jun 2027
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.
Squad21 Jun 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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Kishan Sami 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.
Match19 Jun 2027
Lautoka make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Sitiveni Cavuilagi damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
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 Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ekene Emmanuel 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
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
José Ramírez pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sairusi Nalaubu 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 Feb 2027
Words at Lautoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kishan Sami 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Umid Mirzaev commits to Lautoka for another 3 years.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The numbers do not look good at Lautoka
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market1 Feb 2027
11 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
Lautoka say no — this time
The offer from Tailevu Naitasiri for Navneel Nand 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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kishan Sami 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
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Umid Mirzaev 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
When it matters, Saula Waqa 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Junior Anand is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 34 with 54 appearances behind him, and Lautoka have to plan for both answers.
Market7 Dec 2026
The clock does Shiva Pillay’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Lautoka could ask drops and the wages Shiva Pillay can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
99% of the income goes out in wages at Lautoka
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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; Lautoka are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Umid Mirzaev 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Saula Waqa’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sairusi Nalaubu 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“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 Lautoka, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Lautoka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Umid Mirzaev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lautoka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
131% of the income goes out in wages at Lautoka
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ilisoni Tuinawaivuvu 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Lautoka have gone and got theirs early.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody is after Aporosa Yada’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Aporosa Yada suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Lautoka have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Obod
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Obod are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Islom Komilov 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Amir Shomurodov 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Obod game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Metallurg runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Akhmedov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Sep 2026
A hiding for Obod
Beaten 0‑3 by Kokand 1912, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Obod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Umid Ismailov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Islom Suyunov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Obod who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Obod
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Obod
A 0‑3 beating by Neftchi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 7 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Akmal Urunov and Obod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Obod
Ken Krolicki 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Amir Shomurodov
“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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Obod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Umid Mirzaev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Obod.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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Market
Obod shop where it costs nothing
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Market
Timur Ganiev goes looking for football