“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fahad Al-Dawsari provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Diriyah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Farhod Tukhtasinov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Al-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Óscar 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.
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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Diriyah know it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohammed Al-Salem has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Al-Diriyah, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Diriyah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
SquadÓscar falls out with a teammate over standards
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chancel Mbemba 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Takumi Matsui has improved at 31, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Diriyah can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chancel Mbemba 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Vahid Pouraliganji 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Diriyah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Diriyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Words at Al-Diriyah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chancel Mbemba 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Diriyah told Madi Gnonlonfoun something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Al-Diriyah spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Diriyah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Diriyah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Eitan Cohen is living that version at Al-Diriyah, and it tends to show in the first month.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.