Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Saviour Godwin 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.
In brief
SquadMackenzie Hunt has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Khalaf will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baniyas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alassane Diallo is 22, 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Baniyas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
João Victor 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.
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.
Position 13 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
Baniyas may not be able to give Kayque what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kayque wants continental football; whether Baniyas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Fuentes 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.
Nobody at Baniyas 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.
Saviour Godwin 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baniyas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Bernard Faye 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Al Suwaidi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mohamed Khalaf has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baniyas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Dibba for Ahmed Fawzi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baniyas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Al Ain paid $660.0K and Baniyas took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Saviour Godwin 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 Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 13 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Saviour Godwin 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.
In brief
SquadAmadou Niang falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Al Wasl go through and Baniyas go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hasan Al-Muharrami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baniyas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Baniyas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mohamed Kanno 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 Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hasan Al-Muharrami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baniyas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Saviour Godwin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Baniyas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Fuentes 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amadou Niang signs something — a contract at Baniyas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Saviour Godwin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Fuentes 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baniyas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohamed Kanno 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 no worse way to lose a footballer. Khamis Al-Mansoori has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khamis Al-Mansoori will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baniyas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 13 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Lionel Verde obliged against Al Jazira. 3‑3 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Baniyas.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Fahad Al-Dhanhani: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Amadou Niang, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.25
A mark of 8.25 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Lionel Verde on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Baniyas and Al Jazira.
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Amadou Niang falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
24 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Baniyas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amadou Niang 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.
Mohamed Kanno 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Fahad Al-Dhanhani knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.87, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mohamed Kanno'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.
Nobody at Baniyas 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Baniyas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Munas Dabbur
MarketThe window shut and Mohamed Khalaf is still in the building
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Samuel Silvera
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Mohamed Kanno, marked 7.58, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
6 goals in one match, Mohamed Kanno on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Baniyas and Al Wahda.
João Victor 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amadou Niang did not need any: 9.50, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
30 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Hasan Al-Muharrami has agreed terms with Al Ahli for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hasan Al-Muharrami will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Baniyas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Amadou Niang 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.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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. Lionel Verde has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The offer from Al Shabab for Khamis Al-Mansoori 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.
Saviour Godwin 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baniyas and Al Shabab in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.50 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Baniyas have had the benefit of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Yahia 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Baniyas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Saviour Godwin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.65. 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.
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Yahia Nader 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Marked 8.04 — 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 goal that put Sharjah ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Baniyas equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
A 2‑1 win over Al Ain, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Milton Delgado, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.36
A mark of 9.36 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yahia Nader 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Munas Dabbur'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.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Milton Delgado did not need any: 8.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Milton Delgado 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 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 31 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. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Milton Delgado, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Amadou Niang 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. 38 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Saviour Godwin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 5.28. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Fuentes 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Al Ahli spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Amadou Niang, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.00
A mark of 9.00 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.
Saviour Godwin 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.
A 3‑2 win over Al Ahli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Delgado 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Amadou Niang 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Baniyas and Al Ain, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yahia Nader 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Lionel Verde was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.65. 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Samuel Silvera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.44 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Milton Delgado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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 kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saviour Godwin provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Saviour Godwin had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al Wahda were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Milton Delgado did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Nassim Chadli 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.
Marked 8.64 — 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Amadou Niang, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.34
A mark of 8.34 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.
Milton Delgado 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
Yahia Nader 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.
At 22 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.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Solomon Sosu, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 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 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Fuentes 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Saviour Godwin 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
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milton Delgado 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 club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 5.62. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
In brief
Player ratingsNassim Chadli changes it off the bench
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Saviour Godwin decided nobody was going anywhere. Sharjah had no time left to answer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.61 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Khamis Al-Mansoori is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
6 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.
Saviour Godwin 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. Saif Al-Menhali is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lionel Verde did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Nassim Chadli 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lionel Verde did not need any: 8.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Milton Delgado 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. Alassane Diallo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yahia Nader 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Al Ahli for Jacob Awoute 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.
Nassim Chadli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Fuentes 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Police Union will make the call about Ahmed Fawzi this week. Baniyas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Baniyas has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Yahia Nader falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Victor signs something — a contract at Baniyas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Samuel Silvera is living that version at Baniyas, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Jacob Awoute again, and this time the name on the line is Al Ahli. Baniyas are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Baniyas know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Baniyas 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rachid Ghezzal has just signed for Baniyas, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Baniyas will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Still no offer on the table, and João Victor’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Saviour Godwin 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 name of Bernard Faye has come up in conversations Baniyas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.