Marked for Rustamjon Ashurmatov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Dec 2026
Esteghlal march on in the cup
Rah Ahan are out and Esteghlal go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match2 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Esteghlal scored in the 112th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.02 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Esteghlal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammed Reza Azadi commits to Esteghlal for another 3 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esteghlal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Ali Taremi on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
A test against the best for Esteghlal
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Persepolis.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mehrdad Rezaei
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad23 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Rustamjon Ashurmatov sits out. Esteghlal lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Match21 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Zob Ahan defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Antonio Adán 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Rah Ahan left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Esteghlal dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ali Taremi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
2‑3 to Malavan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Hossein Goudarzi 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Esteghlal dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“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 Esteghlal, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Mehrdad Rezaei has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Esteghlal 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.