Marked for Ehsan Moharrami
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ehsan Moharrami
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tractor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A season average of 7.58 with 22 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.73, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match24 Jan 2028
Tractor up to position 3
47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market24 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Tractor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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 Jan 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Odiljon Hamrobekov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Jan 2028
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tractor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A season average of 7.48 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market17 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Jan 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 Tractor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Jan 2028
The run is over for Tractor
7 matches without defeat, and then Esteghlal. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Market17 Jan 2028
Farshad Faraji has left for Persepolis in a $240.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
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.
Match15 Jan 2028
0‑2 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ehsan Moharrami
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tractor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 Jan 2028
Nobody wants to play Tractor right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
20 goals and a season average of 7.57. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market10 Jan 2028
Tractor say no — this time
The offer from Esteghlal Khuzestan for Milad Zakipour 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Persepolis, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Tractor
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
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.
Match8 Jan 2028
Three points for Tractor, 2‑0 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Ninety minutes of Mehdi Hashemnejad at his very best
Marked 8.72. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tractor.