A 19-year-old Afghanistan international ran from his own half, and Southampton are bottom on minus four
Watford beat Southampton 2-1 at Vicarage Road through Iker Bravo’s debut goal and a solo run from Amin Nabizada. Southampton began the season four points in arrears for filming three rivals’ training sessions.
Aug 16, 2026
Southampton began this Championship season on minus four points. By Sunday evening they had played one match, lost it 2-1 at Watford, and sat bottom of the table with the worst record in England’s second tier before most clubs had finished their first game.
The second of Watford’s goals is the one worth watching back. Amin Nabizada, 19 years old and an Afghanistan international, picked the ball up inside his own half on the half-hour and simply kept running. Nobody stopped him. He finished it himself to make it 2-0, and Vicarage Road made the kind of noise you do not usually hear at a Championship ground in the second week of August.
A debut goal and a teenager who chose Afghanistan
Iker Bravo had opened the scoring in the 12th minute on his league debut for the club. The 21-year-old Spain Under-21 forward arrived this summer from Udinese on a three-year deal, having come through Barcelona’s academy, moved to Bayer Leverkusen in 2021 and spent time on loan at Real Madrid’s B team. He was named player of the tournament when Spain won the 2024 European Under-19 Championship. On the evidence of one slaloming run into the box, Watford have bought well.
Nabizada is the more interesting story for readers in this part of the world. Born in England to an Afghan family, he joined Watford’s academy from Brentford in 2021 and made his first-team debut as a substitute in an FA Cup tie against Fulham in January 2025. He has played for England at Under-18 level. He has also played four matches for Afghanistan’s senior side at the Diamond Jubilee tournament in the Maldives, which is the commitment that counts. He is contracted at Watford until 2030.
Southampton are paying for what they did last season
Cyle Larin pulled a goal back in the 56th minute and Southampton had more than half an hour to find another. They did not. That is a familiar shape for a club whose last 12 months have gone badly wrong off the pitch.
Southampton finished fourth in the Championship last season and reached the play-off final. They never played in it. An EFL disciplinary commission expelled them from the play-offs on 19 May after the club admitted its staff had filmed the training sessions of three rivals, Middlesbrough, Oxford United and Ipswich Town, at the instruction of head coach Tonda Eckert. Their appeal was rejected the next day. Middlesbrough took their place in the final and Hull City went up.
The commission also handed Southampton a four-point deduction to be served this season, which is why a club that was 90 minutes from the Premier League in May is now bottom of the Championship in August with a negative total. Eckert was charged by the FA in July with three counts of misconduct.
Watford, meanwhile, have a forward line featuring a Spain youth international and a teenager who has already chosen his country. There are worse ways to start a season.