Marked for Yakoub Gassi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad19 Mar 2029
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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Oran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Ninety minutes of Yacine Aliane at his very best
Marked 9.65. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at MC Oran.
Match17 Mar 2029
A 3‑1 win over JS Kabylie, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Mar 2029
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.
Market19 Mar 2029
Juba Aguieb linked with a move away
The name of Juba Aguieb keeps appearing in other people's back pages. MC Oran say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 6. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
A squad written off a fortnight ago has closed ranks. Whatever was said behind that door, it has held so far.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ousmane Coumbassa and MC Oran agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Match3 Mar 2029
CR Belouizdad made MC Oran work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Maxwell Baakoh
“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 ratings5 Mar 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market5 Mar 2029
The name of Ousmane Coumbassa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. MC Oran say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
12 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 ratings5 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Oct 2028
Chastening afternoon for MC Oran
A 1‑4 beating by JS Saoura was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match4 Oct 2028
The small margins put MC Oran out
Out, 1‑2 to ES Mostaganem, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces9 Oct 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 12 of the 41 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mokhtar Ferrahi and MC Oran agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at MC Oran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Mohamed Kerroum 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Omar Jobe
“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 ratings9 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom9 Oct 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market9 Oct 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MC Oran has been clear about where Taoufik Ijrouten stands, which is more than many ever get.