At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Al-Hazem know it.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
“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 dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Bruno Varela's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Nov 2027
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Hazem has been clear about where Khalid Hazazi stands, which is more than many ever get.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nawaf Al-Osaimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.94, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Elias Mokwana 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 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 Najran.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohammed Al-Yami’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Hazem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Elias Mokwana 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.
Chefe 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Hazem will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Al-Batin next, and one man in the Al-Hazem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Khalid Hazazi is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Al-Hazem that is a harder question to answer.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Al-Hazem who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
5 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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chefe did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Elias Mokwana 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.
Sultan Tanker 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.
He is 19 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Talal Al-Qahtani could afford to be generous.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Elton Acolatse will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Al-Hazem escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The offer from Al-Taawoun for Mohammed Al-Yami 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Khalid Hazazi delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Khalid Hazazi scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Sultan Tanker 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 deal that would have taken Bonheur Mugisha to Al-Qadisiyah has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Hazem with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Sofiane Bendebka 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.
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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.” Talal Al-Qahtani, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nawaf Al-Osaimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Al-Hazem interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Talal Al-Qahtani keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Mohammed Al-Yami to Hajer has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Hazem with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 Al-Hazem know it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Elias Mokwana 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Qadisiyah will make the call about Bonheur Mugisha this week. Al-Hazem have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.27 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Chefe 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Mojzel have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off 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-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Al-Hazem had all but put away. Al-Orobah will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
It has nothing to do with his form and everything to do with how the squad was assembled. He will train all week with a group he is not permitted to play for, which is a strange way to spend a season.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Talal Al-Qahtani recited it perfectly.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Aboubacar Bah was one of the reasons people came, and $2.8M does not replace that by itself.
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.
The chase for Yousef Fawaz ended with $120.0K changing hands and Al-Batin out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Al-Hazem have gone to Al-Mojzel 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
In brief
Boardroom$12.7M from the owner keeps Al-Hazem afloat
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Hazem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
$120.0K settles it between the clubs for Yousef Fawaz
Al-Batin have accepted the money. What Al-Hazem do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Loreintz Rosier 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssouf Oumarou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Sultan Tanker 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nawaf Al-Osaimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Amer Al-Bakheet is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Loreintz Rosier signs something — a contract at Al-Hazem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Aboubacar Bah
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Faisaly waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Hazem is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Sofiane Bendebka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Elias Mokwana 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Elias Mokwana 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.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Hazem will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Yahya Sunbul arrives from Damac with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Hazem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al-Shanqiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al-Hazem will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Position 5, 67 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Hazem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Saudi Al-Watani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Hazem is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Hazem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Al-Hazem asked and Al-Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdulaziz Al-Harbi and Al-Hazem agree another 3 years.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“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.
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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Hazem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Al-Riyadh paid $260.0K and Al-Hazem took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssouf Oumarou trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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-Hazem will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
A new face in his position, and Elton Acolatse suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al-Hazem have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The deal with Al-Qadisiyah is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Majed Al-Ghamdi 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Hazem will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The deal with Al-Diriyah is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Taawoun have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Sultan Tanker 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.
26 games, 4 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Al-Hazem now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Waleed Al-Shanqeeti, and the manager let it.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Al-Hazem are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Al-Hazem no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Idris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mohammed Al-Yami may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
Abdulhadi Al-Harajin 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Hazem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rayan Al-Ghamdi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Miguel Carvalho has written the date down.
67 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
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.
“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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Idris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
4 goals in 26 games at Al-Saudi Al-Watani — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Hazem updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Hazem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Al-Hazem have received the call every well-run club eventually receives — somebody bigger has noticed the manager. Saying no is easy; keeping him convinced is the actual work.
“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; Al-Hazem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel 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 Miguel Carvalho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Al-Hazem will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ayman Al-Hujaili has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sofiane Bendebka 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Idris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Al-Hazem would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Position 5, 67 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
“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.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Hazem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.64 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Hazem and Al-Batin, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Three points for Al-Hazem, 4‑2 the final word against Al-Batin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Elias Mokwana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hassan Idris 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bruno Varela signs something — a contract at Al-Hazem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Al-Batin next, and one man in the Al-Hazem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Al-Hazem would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
3 goals in 25 games at Al-Saudi Al-Watani — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Hazem updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
“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 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Al-Hazem
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Hazem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Sayoud, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel 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.
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 Youssouf Oumarou.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Al-Hazem know it.
Sultan Tanker 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Elton Acolatse at his very best
“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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Al-Hazem know it.
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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Al-Nakhli, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by the manager to a room that had heard them before.
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Bruno Varela
30Edition
The Al-Hazem Herald
22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Miguel Carvalho, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.36
A mark of 8.36 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Miguel Carvalho 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 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.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Al-Hazem rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Al-Ta'ee had no answer to any of it.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Al-Hazem did not want this conversation and are having it anyway. A manager wanted elsewhere is a manager whose next contract talk just became more expensive.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Al-Hazem prefer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Miguel Carvalho did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Al-Hazem close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Majed Al-Mutairi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Al-Hazem have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 dugout25 Jan 2027
the manager: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Hassan Idris 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Al-Mojzel defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Miguel Carvalho, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Sultan Tanker 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 is 21 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.
Three points for Al-Hazem, 1‑0 the final word against Al-Jeel in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.” the manager kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Hazem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Al-Hazem asked and Al-Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
4 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Hazem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Hazem and Al-Shoulla, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Loreintz Rosier was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Cruzeiro arrived with $14.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Afimico Pululu has gone, the accounts have $14.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youssouf Oumarou, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
A satisfied the manager
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, the manager could afford to be generous.
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.
3‑0, and Amir Sayoud took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Hazem tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Amir Sayoud takes the afternoon — 9.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amir Sayoud provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
35 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” the manager kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Idris 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.
In brief
The dugoutElton Acolatse asks for a word with the manager
A brace, and Omar Al-Somah takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Al-Somah provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The name of Afimico Pululu has come up in conversations Al-Hazem were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
“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 Al-Hazem, and 2 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The goal that put Damac ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Al-Hazem equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Bonheur Mugisha, marked 6.26, 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
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.” the manager kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
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.
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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Hassan Idris 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.
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
Al-Riyadh 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Al-Riyadh next, and one man in the Al-Hazem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Loreintz Rosier signs something — a contract at Al-Hazem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Al-Hazem would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
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.
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.
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 the manager left the room before anybody could ask which.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Hazem have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al-Nahda kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al-Hazem will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 7.78 for the rest of it.
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.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Position 2, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
6 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.
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Al-Hazem. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” the manager kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Afimico Pululu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Three points for Al-Hazem, 2‑0 the final word against Al-Fayha in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Afimico Pululu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Al-Ta'ee next, and one man in the Al-Hazem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
12 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Hassan Idris 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdulhadi Al-Harajin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Hazem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Al-Hazem would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al-Hazem the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Al-Faisaly watched Loreintz Rosier again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
4 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.
Omar Al-Somah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
“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 Al-Hazem know it.
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.
“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 Al-Hazem, and 0 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amir Sayoud. 2‑0 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
Marked 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Hazem.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Al-Hazem are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 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.” the manager, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al-Hazem will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Afimico Pululu. 1‑0 against Al-Jeel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Hazem has been clear about where Abdullah Al-Shanqiti stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Hassan Idris 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 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amir Sayoud. 1‑0 against Al-Ettifaq, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al-Hazem had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Al-Hazem close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Elias Mokwana has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Omar Al-Somah is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Hazem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A brace, and Omar Al-Somah takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Al-Somah provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
Sultan Tanker 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout24 Aug 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.” the manager, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 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. Youssouf Oumarou provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Al-Hazem and Al-Orobah, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ohod waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Hazem is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hamad Al-Qahtani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Idris 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 Bonheur Mugisha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Al-Orobah next, and one man in the Al-Hazem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Amir Sayoud 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.
Add another name to the list: Hajer have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Majed Al-Ghamdi. The answer from Al-Hazem has not changed — yet.