Marked for Youcef Hamiche
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Feb 2028
17 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Gazelle Garoua were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market28 Feb 2028
Ahmed Hijazi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
7.63, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Alex Leyi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alex Leyi has, at Fortuna Mfou, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaise Loïc Tsagué is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Oko Onyedika did the work nobody counts — 7.16
12 combined actions and 7.16. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Youcef Hamiche 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.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
He is 23 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.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Léon Dilane Balomog has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Fortuna Mfou is pretending otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Fortuna Mfou's wait for a win
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fortuna Mfou has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
George Alalabang: 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.” Fortuna Mfou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fortuna Mfou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Serge Eloundou 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Fortuna Mfou can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Blaise Loïc Tsagué 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
0‑1 to Cotonsport Garoua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“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
Crisis
Match22 Jan 2028
13 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Marc Tsala Ndi 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaise Loïc Tsagué 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
Stade Renard de Melong left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market24 Jan 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andre Mbia after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Fortuna Mfou's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fortuna Mfou has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Fortuna Mfou — 7.59
1 for Marc Lafleur Essono, marked 7.59, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with Cotonsport Garoua, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Sebastian Arnaud 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 Jan 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaise Loïc Tsagué 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Aliou Souleyman Hendji has come up in conversations Fortuna Mfou were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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 dugout10 Jan 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Jan 2028
10 matches without a win for Fortuna Mfou
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Fortuna Mfou are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Dec 2027
0‑1 against Victoria United, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad3 Jan 2028
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.
Market3 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fortuna Mfou can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortuna Mfou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youcef Hamiche and Fortuna Mfou agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Fortuna Mfou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaise Loïc Tsagué 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“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.