Marked for Amjad Al-Sayed
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Al Dhafra
Sory Kaba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Al Wasl, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Sory Kaba
11 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Sory Kaba at his very best
Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Dhafra.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nothing got past Serafim
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jobson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hamad Ismail 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nasser Al Suwaidi 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al Hashmi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Yousef Al-Mansoοri 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.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdulla Idrees’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al Dhafra needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Amjad Al-Sayed wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al Dhafra have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al Dhafra
A 1‑6 beating by Al Jazira was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The step up is real for Arielson
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jobson 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al Dhafra and Al Jazira in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Beaten 6 times: a bad day for Amjad Al-Sayed
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezeckiel Noumonvi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al Dhafra
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑6 defeat, delivered by Nasser Al Hashmi to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jobson 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al Dhafra
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
DAC Dunajska Streda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
The leaders are next for Al Dhafra
Al Shaab top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Al Dhafra have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Al Dhafra say no — this time
The offer from Ghazl El Mahalla for Abderahmane Soussi 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karim El Berkaoui and Al Dhafra agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Jobson in a row with a teammate
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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al Dhafra
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Jobson's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.