From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2038
A fracture rules Timur Fayzullaev out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom20 Sep 2038
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad20 Sep 2038
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad20 Sep 2038
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 Sep 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match18 Sep 2038
Still nobody has beaten Mashal
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings20 Sep 2038
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match18 Sep 2038
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kokand 1912 defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings20 Sep 2038
10 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.
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2038
A fracture rules Timur Fayzullaev out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 Sep 2038
“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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces13 Sep 2038
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2038
A fracture rules Timur Fayzullaev out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings6 Sep 2038
Murodjon Komilov, 33, rolls back the years — 9.25
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.25 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match4 Sep 2038
Mashal get the job done against AGMK
A 2‑1 win over AGMK, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad6 Sep 2038
A season average of 7.32 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom6 Sep 2038
88% of the income goes out in wages at Mashal
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.
Squad6 Sep 2038
A place in the month's best eleven for Aziz Masharipov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Aziz Masharipov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mashal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad6 Sep 2038
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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2038
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Sep 2038
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jaloliddin Fayzullaev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2038
A fracture rules Timur Fayzullaev out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings30 Aug 2038
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match28 Aug 2038
7 matches without a win for Mashal
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Mashal are no longer polite ones.
Squad30 Aug 2038
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Aug 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2038
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2038
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings23 Aug 2038
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Aug 2038
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom23 Aug 2038
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match21 Aug 2038
The wait goes on for Mashal
6 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.
Match21 Aug 2038
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Mashal and Neftchi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings23 Aug 2038
Khalfan Al Menhali was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.78. 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.
Match21 Aug 2038
It needed Murodjon Komilov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Neftchi, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad23 Aug 2038
6 goals and a season average of 7.28. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2038
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings16 Aug 2038
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Aug 2038
Aziz Masharipov, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match14 Aug 2038
5 matches without a win for Mashal
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Mashal are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Aug 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adel Al-Mutairi, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2038
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match7 Aug 2038
The wait goes on for Mashal
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.
Squad9 Aug 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Islombek Baratov and Mashal agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2038
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Aug 2038
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2038
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Aug 2038
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad2 Aug 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Islombek Baratov commits to Mashal for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mashal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Jul 2038
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad26 Jul 2038
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match24 Jul 2038
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Jul 2038
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Kamronbek Hamroyev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
Shots: 4, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
Marked 5.68. 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
Marked 5.80, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2038
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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2038
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Jul 2038
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2038
A fracture rules Timur Fayzullaev out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Jul 2038
A brace, and Rinat Vorogovskiy takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rinat Vorogovskiy provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Jul 2038
Murodjon Komilov, 33, rolls back the years — 9.07
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match10 Jul 2038
Obod made Mashal work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Jul 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islombek Baratov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Jul 2038
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Jul 2038
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad5 Jul 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Murodjon Komilov and Mashal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match3 Jul 2038
Three points for Mashal, 1‑0 the final word against Navbahor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings5 Jul 2038
Rinat Vorogovskiy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Squad5 Jul 2038
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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2038
Intake day at the Mashal academy
6 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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2038
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2038
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom28 Jun 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Match26 Jun 2038
No end in sight to Mashal's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mashal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Jun 2038
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Akmal Komilov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Jun 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Farhod Hasanov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Jun 2038
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Jun 2038
A 1‑1 draw with Bukhara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market28 Jun 2038
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Akmal Mirzaev leaves Mashal the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jun 2038
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match16 Jun 2038
Mashal bow out of the cup
Bunyodkor go through and Mashal go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad21 Jun 2038
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Bobur Abdullaev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mashal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match19 Jun 2038
Andijon left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Jun 2038
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 terraces21 Jun 2038
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings21 Jun 2038
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Jun 2038
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Jun 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2038
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings14 Jun 2038
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Squad14 Jun 2038
A muscle injury sidelines Akmal Komilov for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Mashal will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Jun 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dostonbek Hasanov and Mashal agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Jun 2038
Murodjon Komilov, 33, rolls back the years — 9.13
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Jun 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Izzatullo Abdulhaqov and Mashal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jun 2038
“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.
Match5 Jun 2038
It finished 1‑0, and it was Murodjon Komilov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mashal.
Squad7 Jun 2038
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.
Squad7 Jun 2038
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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2038
13 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.
Player ratings7 Jun 2038
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Player ratings7 Jun 2038
Defensive actions: 10, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2038
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.
Boardroom31 May 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Player ratings31 May 2038
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match29 May 2038
The wait goes on for Mashal
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.
Squad31 May 2038
“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.
Match29 May 2038
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 May 2038
Every point is an argument now for Mashal
Position 14 and 10 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.
Market24 May 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match22 May 2038
Mashal come up short against AGMK
AGMK left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings24 May 2038
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 May 2038
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.
Squad24 May 2038
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.
Squad24 May 2038
“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 terraces24 May 2038
Everybody has an opinion about Adel Al-Mutairi
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 May 2038
“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.
Player ratings17 May 2038
Rinat Vorogovskiy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings17 May 2038
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bobur Abdullaev and Mashal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 May 2038
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 May 2038
A bad afternoon for Mashal against Neftchi
0‑1 to Neftchi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 May 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bobur Abdullaev and Mashal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings10 May 2038
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 May 2038
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.
Squad10 May 2038
The manager makes an example of Aziz Fayzullaev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings3 May 2038
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom3 May 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Player ratings3 May 2038
Farhod Hasanov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 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.
Squad3 May 2038
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 May 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
Abdulaziz Makin, 36, rolls back the years — 8.83
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.83 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Apr 2038
No end in sight to Mashal's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mashal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Apr 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Apr 2038
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.
Match24 Apr 2038
It needed Abdulaziz Makin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Nasaf, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad26 Apr 2038
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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alisher Xayrullayev, and the manager let it.
Match17 Apr 2038
0‑1 to Metallurg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
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.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Apr 2038
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Apr 2038
Murodjon Komilov, 33, rolls back the years — 8.85
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match10 Apr 2038
3‑4 to Pakhtakor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match10 Apr 2038
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Mashal and Pakhtakor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad12 Apr 2038
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Apr 2038
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.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Rashid Abubakar dropped after a run of poor form
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.
The terraces12 Apr 2038
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Mar 2038
Mashal through in the cup
A 3‑2 win over AGMK, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match3 Apr 2038
A hiding for Mashal
Beaten 1‑4 by Shortan, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
No sign of nerves from Odil Shomurodov at 18 — 8.77
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Odil Shomurodov did not need any: 8.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom5 Apr 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad5 Apr 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Asadbek Habibullayev commits to Mashal for another 2 years.
The terraces5 Apr 2038
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Odil Shomurodov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
Murodjon Komilov, 33, rolls back the years — 8.93
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.93 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad29 Mar 2038
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market29 Mar 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Mar 2038
Whatever happens, Mashal do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad29 Mar 2038
“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.
Match27 Mar 2038
Three points for Mashal, 1‑0 the final word against Obod in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Mar 2038
Whatever happens, Mashal do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match20 Mar 2038
The goals have deserted Mashal
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mashal can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Mar 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rinat Vorogovskiy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Islombek Baratov dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Squad22 Mar 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Otabek Shomurodov commits to Mashal for another 3 years.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
Farhod Hasanov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 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.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match13 Mar 2038
Still nobody has beaten Mashal
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad15 Mar 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Izzatullo Abdulhaqov, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eldor Shomurodov and Mashal agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom8 Mar 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad8 Mar 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Mar 2038
Graduation day at Mashal
9 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.
Market8 Mar 2038
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Farhod Mirzaev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market8 Mar 2038
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jasur Ismailov 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.
Market8 Mar 2038
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Otabek Mirzaev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2038
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amir Akhmedov 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2038
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Kamronbek Hamroyev 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.
Squad1 Mar 2038
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2038
Sardor Shomurodov damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad22 Feb 2038
Nobody at Mashal 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.
Squad22 Feb 2038
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mashal told Nodir Hasanov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardor Shomurodov
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Squad15 Feb 2038
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2038
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad8 Feb 2038
229 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Mashal know what they have.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2038
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
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.
Squad1 Feb 2038
229 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad1 Feb 2038
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2038
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad25 Jan 2038
Nobody at Mashal 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.
Squad25 Jan 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nodir Hasanov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2038
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market18 Jan 2038
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Tempers go at Mashal
Kamronbek Hamroyev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2038
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2038
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2038
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Squad4 Jan 2038
213 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad4 Jan 2038
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Mashal will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2037
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Squad28 Dec 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2037
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Squad21 Dec 2037
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.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Aziz Fayzullaev asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2037
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Boardroom14 Dec 2037
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Market14 Dec 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Islombek Baratov
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nodir Hasanov, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Islombek Baratov
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Islombek Baratov
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Nov 2037
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Nov 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Islombek Baratov
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom16 Nov 2037
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad16 Nov 2037
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 Mashal have had the benefit of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Islombek Baratov
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Aziz Fayzullaev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mashal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Izzatullo Abdulhaqov and Mashal agree another 2 years.
In brief
-
Squad
Tempers go at Mashal
-
Boardroom
The Mashal production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2037
Islombek Baratov damages knee ligaments — 114 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 114 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.
Squad2 Nov 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Izzatullo Abdulhaqov and Mashal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Nov 2037
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mashal told Abdulaziz Makin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2037
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Akmal Mirzaev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad26 Oct 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bobur Abdullaev, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom19 Oct 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad19 Oct 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mashal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Oct 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2037
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Oct 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2037
276 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market5 Oct 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
Marked 8.96 — 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.
Match26 Sep 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adel Al-Mutairi. 1‑0 against Qizilqum, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Murodjon Komilov
5 goals and a season average of 7.43 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad28 Sep 2037
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Akmal Mirzaev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Manuel Sanchez 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Market28 Sep 2037
The name of Raphael Ayagwa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mashal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom21 Sep 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Rashid Abubakar 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
Ninety minutes of Murodjon Komilov at his very best
Marked 8.74. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mashal.
Squad21 Sep 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alisher Xayrullayev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Sep 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aziz Ganiev and Mashal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at Mashal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rashid Abubakar 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.
Squad14 Sep 2037
“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.
Match12 Sep 2037
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Lokomotiv came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market14 Sep 2037
Mashal have let the market know Jaloliddin Fayzullaev can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Defensive actions: 9, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Sep 2037
Rinat Vorogovskiy wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Rinat Vorogovskiy found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and AGMK went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad7 Sep 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Sep 2037
329 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market7 Sep 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kamronbek Hamroyev and Mashal agree another 3 years.
Match5 Sep 2037
Three points for Mashal, 2‑1 the final word against AGMK in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Sep 2037
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Mashal will not try tonight.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Aug 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2037
0‑1 to Bunyodkor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Murodjon Komilov
4 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad31 Aug 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aziz Fayzullaev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2037
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.
Squad24 Aug 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom24 Aug 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad24 Aug 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mashal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Aug 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2037
Marked 9.04 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2037
A fracture rules Islom Abdullaev out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2037
The manager makes an example of Raphael Ayagwa
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match15 Aug 2037
A bad afternoon for Mashal against Sogdiana
0‑1 to Sogdiana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Aug 2037
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.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Rinat Vorogovskiy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market10 Aug 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Aug 2037
Nasaf made Mashal work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad10 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2037
A season average of 7.34 with 3 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 Aug 2037
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.
Market3 Aug 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raphael Ayagwa and Mashal agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2037
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Jul 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Jul 2037
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market27 Jul 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Jul 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom27 Jul 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match25 Jul 2037
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Jul 2037
“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.
Player ratings27 Jul 2037
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Squad27 Jul 2037
The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Karim Djabou, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Jul 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Jul 2037
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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mashal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match18 Jul 2037
Shortan left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Jul 2037
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 Jul 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Doniyor Nematov commits to Mashal for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Jul 2037
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.
Squad13 Jul 2037
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.
Player ratings13 Jul 2037
Odil Shomurodov, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Jasur Suyunov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mashal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market13 Jul 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings13 Jul 2037
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Jul 2037
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.
Market6 Jul 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Jul 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings6 Jul 2037
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Jul 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrohim G'anixonov, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Jul 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aziz Fayzullaev and Mashal agree another 3 years.
Boardroom6 Jul 2037
Mashal sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Match4 Jul 2037
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market6 Jul 2037
The name of Raphael Ayagwa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mashal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jun 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings29 Jun 2037
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 Jun 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Jun 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Raphael Ayagwa 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 terraces29 Jun 2037
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Odil Shomurodov 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.
Player ratings29 Jun 2037
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings29 Jun 2037
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.56 on the card, and the Mashal support went home talking about one name.
Squad29 Jun 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jun 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
25 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.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Manuel Sanchez 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 Jun 2037
25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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 terraces22 Jun 2037
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Match20 Jun 2037
Mashal and Andijon cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Andijon came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings22 Jun 2037
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 9 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jun 2037
A fracture rules Rashid Abubakar out for 77 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings15 Jun 2037
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings15 Jun 2037
Farhod Hasanov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 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.
Market15 Jun 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match13 Jun 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Asadbek Habibullayev. 1‑0 against Qizilqum, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad15 Jun 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rinat Vorogovskiy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Jun 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad15 Jun 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Farhod Ismailov and Mashal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jun 2037
A fracture rules Rashid Abubakar out for 84 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 Jun 2037
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Jun 2037
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match6 Jun 2037
No end in sight to Mashal's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mashal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Jun 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Islombek Baratov commits to Mashal for another 2 years.
Squad8 Jun 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrohim G'anixonov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jun 2037
A fracture rules Rashid Abubakar out for 91 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom1 Jun 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market1 Jun 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match30 May 2037
No end in sight to Mashal's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mashal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Jun 2037
“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.
Match30 May 2037
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Jun 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jun 2037
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.
Market1 Jun 2037
Akmal Mirzaev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mashal has been clear about where Akmal Mirzaev stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 May 2037
A fracture rules Rashid Abubakar out for 98 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mashal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 May 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mashal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 May 2037
“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.
Player ratings25 May 2037
A mark of 7.86, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match23 May 2037
Mashal share the spoils with AGMK
A 1‑1 draw with AGMK leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 May 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 May 2037
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 May 2037
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 May 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 May 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Squad18 May 2037
The manager makes an example of Raphael Ayagwa
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match16 May 2037
0‑2 to Bunyodkor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The terraces18 May 2037
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market18 May 2037
Mashal have let the market know Odil Shomurodov can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 May 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings11 May 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings11 May 2037
No sign of nerves from Aziz Ganiev at 20 — 8.13
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aziz Ganiev did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings11 May 2037
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad11 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 May 2037
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 May 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings4 May 2037
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.
Boardroom4 May 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Player ratings4 May 2037
Farhod Hasanov, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad4 May 2037
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market4 May 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 May 2037
A 2‑0 win over Sogdiana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad4 May 2037
“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.
Squad4 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Apr 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings27 Apr 2037
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Apr 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings27 Apr 2037
17 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.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Islombek Baratov dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Rinat Vorogovskiy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Apr 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 134 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market20 Apr 2037
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Apr 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raphael Ayagwa, and the manager let it.
Match18 Apr 2037
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Apr 2037
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Kamronbek Hamroyev knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad20 Apr 2037
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.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
Shots: 6. 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.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
15 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
5.77 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Apr 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 141 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad13 Apr 2037
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match11 Apr 2037
The run at home goes on for Mashal
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match11 Apr 2037
It finished 2‑1, and it was Adel Al-Mutairi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mashal.
The terraces13 Apr 2037
Mashal supporters have found a favourite in Aziz Ganiev
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Aziz Ganiev 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.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
Adel Al-Mutairi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
Squad13 Apr 2037
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.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Apr 2037
The cup run ends for Mashal
0‑1 against Andijon, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Boardroom6 Apr 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad6 Apr 2037
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.
Market6 Apr 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mashal can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings6 Apr 2037
A chastening introduction for Odil Shomurodov — 5.59
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.59 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Squad6 Apr 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Izzatullo Abdulhaqov and Mashal agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Player ratings6 Apr 2037
Ninety minutes of Murodjon Komilov at his very best
Marked 9.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mashal.
Squad6 Apr 2037
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Mar 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasur Fayzullaev
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match28 Mar 2037
Nobody wins at Mashal
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad30 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Words at Mashal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rashid Abubakar 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.
Match28 Mar 2037
Obod made Mashal work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad30 Mar 2037
The manager makes an example of Farhod Ismailov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Mar 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Mar 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Rashid Abubakar 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.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.86, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Mar 2037
The manager makes an example of Adel Al-Mutairi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Match21 Mar 2037
A 1‑1 draw with Navbahor leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Mar 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Mar 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Mar 2037
The run at home goes on for Mashal
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Manuel Sanchez 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.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Marked 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad16 Mar 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aziz Masharipov commits to Mashal for another 3 years.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Rinat Vorogovskiy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Mar 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom9 Mar 2037
The numbers do not look good at Mashal
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market9 Mar 2037
“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 Mashal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Match7 Mar 2037
The run at home goes on for Mashal
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Mar 2037
A bad afternoon for Mashal against Andijon
0‑1 to Andijon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Mar 2037
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad9 Mar 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Mar 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Aziz Ganiev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mashal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Mar 2037
A muscle injury sidelines Rashid Abubakar for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Mashal will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom2 Mar 2037
Graduation day at Mashal
9 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.
Market2 Mar 2037
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Farhod Ganiev 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.
Market2 Mar 2037
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mirzo Suyunov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market2 Mar 2037
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Odil Shomurodov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market2 Mar 2037
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timur Fayzullaev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Boardroom2 Mar 2037
Mashal board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Feb 2037
Abdulaziz Makin damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
The manager makes an example of Aziz Ganiev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Feb 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Feb 2037
Abdulaziz Makin damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
Squad16 Feb 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Rinat Vorogovskiy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Feb 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom9 Feb 2037
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad9 Feb 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Feb 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Asadbek Habibullayev and Mashal agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Murodjon Komilov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mashal 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.
Market9 Feb 2037
The name of Raphael Ayagwa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Mashal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Feb 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Feb 2037
215 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Mashal know what they have.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jan 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Jan 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Nobody at Mashal 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.
In brief
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Squad
Aziz Ganiev asks for a word with the manager
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Boardroom
The Mashal production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jan 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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 Jan 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jan 2037
Abdulaziz Makin damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Boardroom12 Jan 2037
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad12 Jan 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karim Djabou and Mashal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jan 2037
Abdulaziz Makin damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Squad5 Jan 2037
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 Mashal have had the benefit of it.
Squad5 Jan 2037
200 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Dec 2036
Abdulaziz Makin damages knee ligaments — 103 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
Squad29 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khalfan Al Menhali and Mashal agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Dec 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Dec 2036
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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 Dec 2036
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Dec 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom15 Dec 2036
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad15 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Dec 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Dec 2036
182 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad8 Dec 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Murodjon Komilov and Mashal agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Dec 2036
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulaziz Makin
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Dec 2036
182 appearances across 10 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Mashal know what they have.
Squad1 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mashal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Nov 2036
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Aziz Fayzullaev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mashal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Nov 2036
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Nov 2036
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom17 Nov 2036
Mashal counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Mashal now.
Squad17 Nov 2036
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Mashal will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Nov 2036
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Tempers go at Mashal
Izzatullo Abdulhaqov 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.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Rashid Abubakar 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Nov 2036
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 Nov 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 Nov 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Islombek Baratov and Mashal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Oct 2036
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mashal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Tempers go at Mashal
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
Squad27 Oct 2036
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.