Marked for Ordabasy Taykenov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Khalifa Mubarak 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Youssef El Omari 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Akzhaiyk out
Out, 0‑1 to Tobol, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad17 Aug 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 Akzhaiyk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef El Omari 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rinat Postnikov, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Akzhaiyk know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Serikzhan Tagybergen has his answer from Akzhaiyk; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Askhat Beysebekov takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Askhat Beysebekov provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rinat Postnikov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Timur Shomko gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulugbek Tukhtasinov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Akzhaiyk know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Shakhter leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Akzhaiyk has been clear about where Ordabasy Taykenov stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market3 Aug 2026
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.