The Orenburg Courier
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Benjamín Bosch at 21 — 8.33
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Benjamín Bosch did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Orenburg until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Akron tell Orenburg: Roberto Fernández is not for sale
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Sep 2026
Orenburg get the job done against Lokomotiv Moscow
A 2‑1 win over Lokomotiv Moscow, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market14 Sep 2026
Orenburg promote Pyotr Plotnikov from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pyotr Plotnikov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Yuriy Gromov joins the Orenburg first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yuriy Gromov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A masterclass from Damián Puebla
Marked 8.34 — 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
A row about effort at Orenburg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Irakli Kvekveskiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Orenburg
Juan Mezú and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Jersson González
- Loan watch Anton Lukashov counts the days
- The dugout The manager’s verdict