Marked for Marlon Sorovi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Suva's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Suva has to find a result from somewhere.
Match14 Jun 2028
Suva out of the cup
Ba ended it 0‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
A cup hiding at Ba leaves Suva explaining themselves
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match17 Jun 2028
The goals have deserted Suva
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Suva can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Suva
Akuila Mateisuva 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramzan Khan 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
Tailevu Naitasiri left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akuila Mateisuva, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings22 May 2028
No sign of nerves from Marlon Sorovi at 18 — 7.69
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marlon Sorovi did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match20 May 2028
The wait goes on for Suva
5 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.
Market22 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Marlon Nawalu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marlon Nawalu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 May 2028
Tempers go at Suva
Ramzan Khan 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Suva training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sakaraia Naisua 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
Crisis
Match13 May 2028
Chastening afternoon for Suva
A 0‑3 beating by Labasa was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad15 May 2028
Amitesh Krishna: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Suva have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Jason Dau
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jason Dau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Suva the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match13 May 2028
The wait goes on for Suva
4 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.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Suva this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Ramzan Khan 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Doors closed at Suva
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad15 May 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Suva told Neerav Goundar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces10 Apr 2028
The mood at Suva has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match5 Apr 2028
Cup progress for Suva
A 3‑2 win over Nadroga, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match5 Apr 2028
Suva win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 122th minute. Nadroga will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match10 Apr 2028
Suva sink to position 9
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Suva, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Marlon Sorovi, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42
A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad10 Apr 2028
There were 6 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 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Suva can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Suva is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Suva
Ramzan Khan 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.