Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Minute 89, against Al Jazira, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Palacios 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Adis Jašić 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.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Sharjah; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Mazyad Freeh for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al Ain will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abdullah Al Suwaidi wants continental football; whether Al Ain can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I did not go to Dibba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Ain and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Al Hammadi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
SquadWords at Al Ain training over how hard people work
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Kaku was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
Something was said to Valentino Lazaro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdullah Al Suwaidi provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Valentino Lazaro 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 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.
Al Dhafra next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
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 7.94 for the rest of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Salem Al Bloushi 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al Ain will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 20 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.
8.63. 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.
Marked 8.06 — 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 training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 8.41 — 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.
Minute 94, against Al Ahli, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al Ahli; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Caio Lucas. 2‑1 against Al Shaab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.52 — 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.
8.33. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ali Al Hammadi on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abdullah Al Suwaidi wants continental football; whether Al Ain can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Valentino Lazaro 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.
6 goals in one match, Soufiane Rahimi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al Ain and Dibba.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al Suwaidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Dibba to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Ain and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ali Al Hammadi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
That is the business done at Al Ain until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Ain hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
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.
At 21 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.
The phone has started ringing about Eid Al-Hammadi again, and this time the name on the line is Al Shabab. Al Ain are listening politely and promising nothing.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hussein Al-Naasan is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al Ain will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismaila Okpoti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Houssine Rahimi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Anderlecht for Soufiane Rahimi 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.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Al Ain have paid $5.5M for Abdullah Al Suwaidi, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Ain go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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 Ain, and it is not being withdrawn.
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
Al Ain have gone to Al Shaab with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Soufiane Rahimi signs something — a contract at Al Ain or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Erik 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmed Al Bloushi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadMazyad Freeh is not doing himself any favours
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ibrahim Hussain is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hamad Nader is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fahad Nader 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Al Ain training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Abbas 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 offer from Al-Nassr for Houssine Rahimi 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Soufiane Rahimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Dibba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hassan Sani Mohamed. The answer from Al Ain has not changed — yet.