Marked for Ko Shimura
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Ain may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Kodjo Laba, 38, rolls back the years — 8.45
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market21 Jan 2030
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Ain heard it as anything else.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Kodjo Laba 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 Ain this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Match19 Jan 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nahuel Bustos. 2‑1 against Al Fujairah, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Ninety minutes of Nahuel Bustos at his very best
Marked 8.82. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ain.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Nov 2029
Viktoria Plzen ended it 3‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad26 Nov 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2029
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Mlada Boleslav and Viktoria Plzen in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Roman Macek 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.86, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Ninety minutes of Federico Ortiz at his very best
Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mlada Boleslav.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Ko Shimura lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
Ko Shimura hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Mlada Boleslav
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mlada Boleslav may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Sekou Kaba breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Nobody could get near David Pech
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mlada Boleslav is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market29 Jan 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Mlada Boleslav have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Roman Macek 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
No sign of nerves from Maxim Kalabus at 21 — 7.64
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Maxim Kalabus did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market22 Jan 2029
Josef Kolářík has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mlada Boleslav they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Karel Soldát has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A defender's afternoon for Roman Macek
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Maxim Kalabus’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mlada Boleslav.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Denis Donát gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Jan 2029
The team sheet said everything about Ko Shimura
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ko Shimura.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces8 Jan 2029
The mood at Mlada Boleslav has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Tomas Sykora has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 Jan 2029
Cruz Azul come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mlada Boleslav did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Jan 2029
Rhyan hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Pech and Mlada Boleslav agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
An unwelcome headline for Tomáš Horák
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
David Pech runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces13 Nov 2028
The mood at Mlada Boleslav has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A fracture rules Nicolas Penner out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mlada Boleslav will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market13 Nov 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 Mlada Boleslav, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Nov 2028
Josef Kolářík has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mlada Boleslav they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
Whatever happens, Mlada Boleslav do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A performance of 9.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Solomon John was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
Ondřej Karafiát damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Karel Soldát out for 62 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mlada Boleslav will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Jul 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 Mlada Boleslav, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Mlada Boleslav boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Karel Soldát breaks a bone — 102 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Jun 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 Mlada Boleslav, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomáš Král and Mlada Boleslav agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jun 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 Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Roman Macek 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.