Youssef Nader 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. Salem Khalfan is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 Musa Afeez is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Shabab. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al Shabab has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al Shabab, another week without a signature from Hamad Al Kamali.
19 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Al Jazira will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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 Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
6 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.
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 Shabab 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.
“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 Shabab are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Shabab heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismail Al Junaibi 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdoulaye Touré 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.
“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 Shabab are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
18 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Youssef Nader 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout25 Oct 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.” Walid Suqrat, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kodjo Laba obliged against Emirates Club. 3‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Al Shabab.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al Shabab scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A brace, and Kodjo Laba takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kodjo Laba provided it, and the 8.75 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. 9.18 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Youssef Nader 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Nader and Al Shabab agree another 4 years.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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.
Kodjo Laba 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 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 Salem Nader is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Omar Khribin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al Shabab needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Next up on the road: Al Dhafra, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Youssef Nader has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
16 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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 dugout27 Sep 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Walid Suqrat to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ismail Al Menhali 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.
At 18 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.
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
15 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.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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 Shabab have more foreign players than the form allows, and he is the one without a place on it. He will train with a side he is not permitted to play for until the next window.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Walid Suqrat was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al Shabab dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al Ahli? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdoulaye Touré’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al Shabab needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al Jazira is saying, and nobody at Al Shabab is enjoying the guessing.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Al Shabab offered $600.0K; Al Ain said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“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 Shabab heard it as anything else.
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.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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 words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have shaken hands with Al Jazira; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Shabab people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Al Ain this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Omar Khribin 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.
Al Shabab asked and Sharjah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismail Al Junaibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ismail Mabkhout is on it.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Shabab will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Al Nasr for Salem Nader 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.
Al Shabab have gone to Al Jazira 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Dhafra have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Ibrahim Juma is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hamad Ismail signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Position 2, 55 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.
Al Shabab asked and Al Jazira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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 never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Al Shabab have no good answer.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al Dhafra will make the call about Abdullah Al Hashmi this week. Al Shabab have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Saeed Obaid is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Ismail Al Menhali 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.
“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 Shabab will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al Shabab, another week without a signature from Musa Afeez.
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“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 Shabab hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
5 new faces, and Al Shabab 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.
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hamad Ismail signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 2, 55 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.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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.
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 Hamdan Suqrat is on 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Salem Nader is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ismail Al Junaibi signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Shabab. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ismail Al Junaibi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The offer from Aparecidense for Zéca 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.
Youssef Nader 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 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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 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
5 new faces, and Al Shabab 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Kodjo Laba 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.
55 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$67.0K settles it between the clubs for Kodjo Laba
Sharjah have accepted the money. What Al Shabab do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al Shabab asked and Foolad 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 phone has started ringing about Zéca again, and this time the name on the line is Aparecidense. Al Shabab are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al Shaab waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Shabab is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Ismail Al Menhali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Junaibi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
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 Salem Nader is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ismail Al Junaibi signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Shabab heard it as anything else.
The deal with Al Nasr 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ismail Al Junaibi and Al Shabab agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismail Al Junaibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al Shabab asked and Al Jazira 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abdullah Al Hashmi 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al Shabab has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
At 18 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 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.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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 not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al Shabab are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al Shabab had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Mohammed Tahiri 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.
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.
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 Salem Nader is on it.
Youssef Nader 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Musa Afeez has written the date down.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khalfan Mabkhout and Al Shabab agree another 5 years.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Hadi Baghban is on it.
“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 Shabab heard it as anything else.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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 long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Al Shabab now know that too.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Saeed Obaid'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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Al Shabab know now that the thought has arrived.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al Shabab told Emmanuel Iroanya something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Salem Nader signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Iroanya and Al Shabab agree another 4 years.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Shabab know it.
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 Ibrahim Juma is on it.
Position 2, 55 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.
Mohammed Tahiri 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrahim Juma signs something — a contract at Al Shabab or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Shabab that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Shabab. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salem Khalfan is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Saeed Obaid is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Salem Nader is on it.
“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.
Something was said to Ismail Mabkhout and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Al Ain defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Dibba, and it could have been more.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Sultan Yaqoob takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sultan Yaqoob provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Al Shabab will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 26 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Shabab heard it as anything else.
Youssef Nader 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.
“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 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 Walid Suqrat left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Salem Nader
13 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hadi Baghban did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ismail Al Menhali and Al Shabab agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ismail Al Menhali. 2‑1 against Emirates Club, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
12 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Juma. 1‑0 against Al Shaab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al Jazira the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al Shabab will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Sultan Yaqoob takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sultan Yaqoob provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Al Shabab had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olimpia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
24 appearances and 16 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Shabab hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
16 goals in 23 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Shabab updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Hadi Baghban will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Al Shabab escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Shabab people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 2, 41 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is going to Al Ahli, the club has $480.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sultan Yaqoob reports back to Al Shabab with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Al Shabab 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.
Al Shaab arrived with $3.5M 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.
The offer from Al Nasr for Khalfan Mabkhout 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.
5 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.
Khalid Juma has gone, the accounts have $3.5M 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.
10 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.
Add another name to the list: Al Fujairah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdullah Al Hashmi. The answer from Al Shabab has not changed — yet.
Al Shabab asked and Olimpia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Khalfan Mabkhout 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.
14 goals in 21 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Shabab updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
$6.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Shabab have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Sultan Yaqoob had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
He is going to Baniyas, the club has $6.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
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.
“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 Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The deal with Olimpia 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.
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Sharjah for Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Al Shabab had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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 7.48 for the rest of it.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al Shabab and Al Nasr, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Khalid Juma did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Khalid Juma. 1‑0 against Al Ahli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 dugout28 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.” Walid Suqrat kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Hamdan Suqrat obliged against Al Wasl. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Al Shabab.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Hamdan Suqrat, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Hamdan Suqrat 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.
Position 3, 25 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Youssef Nader 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 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.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Walid Suqrat was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al Shabab dressing room was either.
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 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Hadi Baghban 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.
“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 Shabab 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Walid Suqrat chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salem Khalfan is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Abdullah Mabkhout 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Walid Suqrat was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Al Shabab dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al Shaab? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Nobody at Al Shabab will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Abdullah Mabkhout 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Shaab in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“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 Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Al Shabab and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
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.
Position 3, 18 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.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sultan Yaqoob
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Sharjah the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al Shabab will enjoy reviewing.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Musa Afeez 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.
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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Khalfan Mabkhout at his very best
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
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.
Youssef Nader 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Walid Suqrat could afford to be generous.
8 goals in 9 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Shabab updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Al Shabab have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Shabab know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutSultan Yaqoob has become a man the manager trusts
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hamdan Suqrat did not need any: 8.41, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Khalfan Al Menhali scored, was marked 7.53, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hamad Al Kamali is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Youssef Nader and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Al Shabab 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.
5 goals in 7 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Shabab updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
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.
Marked 8.12 — 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 midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.90, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Hadi Baghban is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Khalid Juma, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 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.
At 17 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.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Juma 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hadi Baghban. 2‑0 against Al Wasl, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.” Walid Suqrat, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al Shabab have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padideh have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 21 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Walid Suqrat could afford to be generous.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Khalfan Al Menhali may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Musa Afeez 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.
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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Khalid Juma is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Al-Ra'ed for Abdullah Al Hashmi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Jazira have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everything was agreed with another club and then the doctor spoke. Al Shabab have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al Shabab close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 3 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.
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.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ibrahim Al Junaibi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hamad Nader 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.
“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 Shabab, 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
4 goals in 3 games at Ismaily — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al Shabab updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
$6.4M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Shabab have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Partizan for Ismail Al Junaibi 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.
“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 Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is going to Sharjah, the club has $6.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
$57.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Wahda were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Youssef Nader 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Khalfan Obaid had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $61.2K — a club that wants Oumarou Diadje enough to be asked twice.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
$57.0K on the table at Al Wahda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Al Shabab offered $78.0K; Dibba said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Al Shabab spend $770.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $770.0K for Hamdan Suqrat, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Al Shabab asked and Al Wahda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Al Shabab and Al Shaab have settled on $770.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hannover 96 have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $83.4K — a club that wants Rashed Mohamed enough to be asked twice.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ismail Al Junaibi and Al Shabab agree another 5 years.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al Shabab have gone to Dibba 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Shabab, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The offer from Zob Ahan for Ismail Al Menhali 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.
The name of Khalfan Al Menhali has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Shabab heard it as anything else.
Khalfan Al Menhali 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sultan Yaqoob 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.