The Cibalia Chronicle
Match22 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Cibalia's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cibalia has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Jul 2028
Jonny Brindle asks to leave Cibalia
“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 Jul 2028
Real improvement from Luka Meštrović at Cibalia
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luka Meštrović is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match22 Jul 2028
The goals have deserted Cibalia
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cibalia can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Cibalia
Renato Kelić 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.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Aljaž Zalaznik runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Graduation day at Cibalia
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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Filip Mekić has improved at 25, 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Aaron Seydel 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
- Market One of our own: Bruno Vukas joins the Cibalia first team
- Market One of our own: Luka Pasalic joins the Cibalia first team
- Market One of our own: Ivan Grbic joins the Cibalia first team