Position 2, 30 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.
7 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Roger Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.28
A mark of 8.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
Moussa Diaby 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.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Roger Fernandes decided nobody was going anywhere. Al-Hilal had no time left to answer.
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.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Al-Ittihad know what they have, and so, by now, does 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over Al-Hilal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Moussa Diaby was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mario Mitaj 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jhon Flor 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.
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 grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Ittihad, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moussa Diaby. 1‑0 against Al-Ra'ed, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
11 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Al-Khaleej will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Ittihad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Roger Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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-Ittihad are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Moussa Diaby 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mario Mitaj 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roger Fernandes did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdulmajeed Ayash is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Steven Bergwijn was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Roger Fernandes, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
Moussa Diaby 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diaed de Alba is living that version at Al-Ittihad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Marked 8.15 — 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 116th minute. Al-Diriyah will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Ittihad heard it as anything 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Mitaj 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mahamadou Doumbia 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Predrag Rajković reports back to Al-Ittihad with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Moussa Diaby 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mario Mitaj 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roger Fernandes provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The phone has started ringing about Predrag Rajković again, and this time the name on the line is Sparta Prague. Al-Ittihad are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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-Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Roger Fernandes on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Ittihad and Al-Wehda.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danilo Pereira 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7.52, 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.
Moussa Diaby 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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Saudi Al-Watani have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdulhadi Matari. The answer from Al-Ittihad has not changed — yet.
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: Canon Yaounde will make the call about Rakan Kaabi this week. Al-Ittihad have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ittihad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Youssef En-Nesyri provided it, and the 9.00 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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Faisal Al-Ghamdi 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.
Work is signed off on a capacity of 59053. It is the sort of decision a club is judged on twenty years later, by people who were not there when it was taken.
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.
The offer from Foolad for Saleh Al-Shehri 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
Add another name to the list: Al-Shabab have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muhannad Al-Shanqiti. The answer from Al-Ittihad has not changed — yet.
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-Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Al-Ittihad training over how hard people work
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Ittihad heard it as anything else.
The phone has started ringing about Saleh Al-Shehri again, and this time the name on the line is USM Alger. Al-Ittihad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Moussa Diaby 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.
5 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.