Marked for Loreintz Rosier
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Apr 2030
98 days out for Bonheur Mugisha after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Hazem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Al-Hazem
Sofiane Bendebka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Saeed Al-Mutairi and Al-Hazem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Apr 2030
The captaincy has been taken off Loreintz Rosier. Al-Hazem will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
Bonheur Mugisha 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Mar 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Hazem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Mar 2030
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-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Al-Hazem
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bonheur Mugisha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
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 Bonheur Mugisha is on it.
Market11 Mar 2030
The Amir Sayoud story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amir Sayoud signs something — a contract at Al-Hazem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market11 Mar 2030
The clock does Hamad Al-Khorayef’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Hazem could ask drops and the wages Hamad Al-Khorayef can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Mar 2030
Al-Hazem finish in position 9
44 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Age has not caught Amir Sayoud yet — 8.07
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Loreintz Rosier commits to Al-Hazem for another 3 years.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A falling-out at Al-Hazem
Sofiane Bendebka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Amir Sayoud
15 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match2 Mar 2030
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Hazem and Al-Batin in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match2 Mar 2030
Three points for Al-Hazem, 4‑2 the final word against Al-Batin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Dec 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Age has not caught Amir Sayoud yet — 8.29
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Omar Al-Juhani: 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.” Al-Hazem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Sofiane Bendebka 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 Dec 2029
13 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Al-Hazem
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elias Mokwana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces31 Dec 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mukhtar Barnawi 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.
Match29 Dec 2029
At last: Al-Hazem win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Al-Mojzel. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Oct 2029
“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-Hazem can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Hazem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Oct 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 Al-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Mokwana 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 terraces15 Oct 2029
He is 23 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.
Match13 Oct 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Elias Mokwana. 1‑0 against Al-Nahda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Baurzhan Murtazaev, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Sep 2029
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Sep 2029
Al-Wehda ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match15 Sep 2029
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Al-Mojzel, and it could have been more.
Market17 Sep 2029
“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-Hazem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Age has not caught Amir Sayoud yet — 8.66
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.66 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market17 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Hazem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Sep 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 Al-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A row about effort at Al-Hazem
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elias Mokwana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2029
Al-Hazem asked and Hajer said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.