The Malavan Courier
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
A brace, and Mahan Sadeghi takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahan Sadeghi provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
Mohammad Papi keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Malavan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Afshar Sedaghat: 9 seasons and counting
38 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Malavan know exactly what they have.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Malavan
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi 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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Malavan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Saeid Karimi 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.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Malavan rebuffed over Ashkan Alijani
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Malavan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces7 Aug 2028
The crowd has taken to Mahan Sadeghi
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
- Market Malavan promote Ali Taremi from within
- Market One of our own: Ehsan Vafaei joins the Malavan first team
- Market One of our own: Omid Torabi joins the Malavan first team