Marked for Vladislav Samko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Dec 2028
3‑0, and Brian Mansilla took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Rodina tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
A brace, and Brian Mansilla takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brian Mansilla provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.83 beside his name.
Squad18 Dec 2028
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Rodina
Artem Sokol and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ivanov 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Savely Gusyev kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
Mikhail Maltsev damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Kirill Ushatov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yordy Reyna and Rodina agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Sokol 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.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Morten Trøen
“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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
$6.9M on the table at Rodina
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rodina told Gleb Knyazev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mikhail Maltsev
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rodina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market20 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazar Terpugov 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.
Squad20 Nov 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
47 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Nobody at Rodina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Shinnik next, and one man in the Rodina dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Morten Trøen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Nov 2028
44 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A last season at home is what Yordy Reyna is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Nov 2028
A bad afternoon for Rodina against Volga
1‑2 to Volga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Rodina
Vladislav Samko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Sokol 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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market13 Nov 2028
“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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Mykyta Kolesov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2028
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Kirill Ushatov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Ivanov commits to Rodina for another 3 years.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Nazar Terpugov 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
A 2‑1 win over SKA Khabarovsk, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Rodina
Artem Sokol 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.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“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.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Vladislav Samko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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
Uneasy
Squad25 Sep 2028
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match23 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Rodina's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gleb Knyazev and Rodina agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Rodina
Brian Mansilla 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
Whatever happens, Rodina 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nazar Terpugov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Vambolt, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Vladislav Samko did the work nobody counts — 7.15
11 combined actions and 7.15. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Mykyta Kolesov out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rodina will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The deal with Nizhniy Novgorod died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
$1.5M on the table at Akhmat Grozny. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yegor Akimov is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladislav Samko and Rodina agree another 3 years.
Match29 Jul 2028
Rotor made Rodina work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Rodina board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Rodina
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market10 Jul 2028
Igor Andreev 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 Rodina can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Akhmat Grozny is saying, and nobody at Rodina is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
The offer went to Kuban this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Rodina asked and Arsenal Tula said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Rodina
Vladislav Samko 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Maximenko 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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 May 2028
“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.
The dugout22 May 2028
This is not rotation. Kirill Ushatov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at Rodina
Vanja Drkušić 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Kirill Ushatov 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
Mitja Križan knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mitja Križan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 May 2028
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.
Market22 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market22 May 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Artem Maximenko may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market22 May 2028
The clock does Andrey Yegorychev’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rodina could ask drops and the wages Andrey Yegorychev can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2028
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Kirill Ushatov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Rodina
Vanja Drkušić 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Artem Sokol 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Vanja Drkušić knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Mikhail Maltsev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rodina will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A wage question at Rodina
Georgy Yudintsev has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market24 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market24 Apr 2028
Rodina have let the market know Artem Maximenko can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 Apr 2028
The mood at Rodina 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Vladislav Samko damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Rodina
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Rodina is running low.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Vanja Drkušić: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rodina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Apr 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 Rodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“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 Rodina know it.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Tempers go at Rodina
Vanja Drkušić 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Artem Sokol 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.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Apr 2028
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rodina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rodina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Apr 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 Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Rodina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Ushatov 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rodina, another week without a signature from Artem Yanin.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Mitja Križan knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mitja Križan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Astemir Gordyushenko is on it.
Market10 Apr 2028
The name of Mitja Križan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rodina say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Apr 2028
Vladislav Samko damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Match3 Apr 2028
Every point is an argument now for Rodina
Position 16 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The Rodina board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rodina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Rodina
Vanja Drkušić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Artem Sokol 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rodina, another week without a signature from Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vladislav Samko
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rodina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Kirill Ushatov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rodina is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Rodina
Oleg Suvorov 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Sokol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rodina told Georgy Yudintsev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igor Andreev, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A wage question at Rodina
Georgy Yudintsev has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market27 Mar 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Rodina's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rodina has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Rodina
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market7 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rodina people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Savely Gusyev has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Rodina can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Emergency meeting at Rodina
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Feb 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 Rodina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
SKA Khabarovsk wanted more than $1.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Rodina
Oleg Suvorov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Vladislav Samko for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rodina will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Sokol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Ushatov, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Magomedkhabib Abdusalamov has moved up it.
Loan watch3 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Artur Garibyan’s exile
4 goals in 16 games at Gloria Bistrița — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rodina updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout3 May 2027
Sebastián Arce knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebastián Arce trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Apr 2027
Nobody wins at Rodina
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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; Rodina are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match3 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yordy Reyna. 1‑0 against Ural, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Rodina
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soltmurad Bakaev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Rodina
Ivan Timoshenko 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 ratings5 Apr 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Rodina support went home talking about one name.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rodina, and 12 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ivan Timoshenko is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad8 Feb 2027
Mikhail Maltsev damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
No mercy from Rodina
Chaika will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rodina were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rodina people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market8 Feb 2027
Rodina say no — this time
The offer from Krylya Sovetov for German Onugkha 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Iker Pozo goes up and wins it — 7.86
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.86 for the rest of it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Rodina — 7.68
1 for Kirill Ushatov, marked 7.68, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.20 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Rodina had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AZ, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match6 Feb 2027
Rodina make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rodina have 3 straight wins of it.