There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.86 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Jean Hugues Eyango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Randy Ntume 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Franck Hongla on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Josué Balamandji and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jean Hugues Eyango 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Jean Hugues Eyango to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against PWD Bamenda, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Franck Hongla chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
6 goals in 22 games at Fortuna Mfou — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Colombe du Dja et Lobo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Yvan Mvondo Olama and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Randy Ntume 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Axel Bakoude commits to Colombe du Dja et Lobo for another 3 years.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Franck Hongla chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
That is the business done at Colombe du Dja et Lobo until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The captaincy has been taken off Henry Tchikeu. Colombe du Dja et Lobo will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Colombe du Dja et Lobo than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Patrick Fergani’s exile
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colombe du Dja et Lobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Randy Ntume falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Colombe du Dja et Lobo told Josué Balamandji something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Henry Tchikeu and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 4 years.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. James Tendoh 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.
Marked 8.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arthur Yene, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Franck Hongla, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Godfrey Joseph provided it, and the 8.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Colombe du Dja et Lobo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Jean Hugues Eyango 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.
Cotonsport Garoua next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Franck Hongla kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
13 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Joseph Apam’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Colombe du Dja et Lobo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Position 2, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Josué Balamandji and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Aigle Royal de la Menoua; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Randy Ntume 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.
Yvan Mvondo Olama 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.
Half the programme played, position 2, 26 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Franck Hongla after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.64, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
James Tendoh, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Colombe du Dja et Lobo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marius Essapa Esseme and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
James Tendoh is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Colombe du Dja et Lobo will try very hard not to make too much of it.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Jean Hugues Eyango was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A 1‑0 win over Fauve Azur Elite, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Randy Ntume 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.
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Franck Hongla, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colombe du Dja et Lobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Édouard Sombang knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Franck Hongla could afford to be generous.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Édouard Sombang's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jean Hugues Eyango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Franck Hongla kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Josué Balamandji and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo can tell you which week it ends in.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Randy Ntume 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Yvan Mvondo Olama 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Franck Hongla after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Edmond Sindjo could not do
Player ratingsThe one thing Arthur Yene could not do
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Randy Ntume 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.
Godfrey Joseph and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
15 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Godfrey Joseph
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Jean Hugues Eyango 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume 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.
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Franck Hongla kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colombe du Dja et Lobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Franck Hongla after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
James Tendoh is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Franck Hongla kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Colombe du Dja et Lobo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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 Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and it is not being withdrawn.
12 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Randy Ntume falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colombe du Dja et Lobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
“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 Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Randy Ntume 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.
Jean Hugues Eyango and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jean Hugues Eyango and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jean Hugues Eyango 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Randy Ntume was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, another week without a signature from Randy Ntume.