A brace, and David Ngameni takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Ngameni provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Desire Etame did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Desire Etame 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Collins Ekambi and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Unisport Bafang pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unisport Bafang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
6 goals in one match, Dimitri Mbele on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Unisport Bafang and Canon Yaounde.
Becker Tcheuani 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unisport Bafang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Desire Etame and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unisport Bafang lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
Deadline passes with 4 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Unisport Bafang 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.
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Unisport Bafang asked and PWD Bamenda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Unisport Bafang will try again when the window opens; Fortuna Mfou may not be selling by then.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Unisport Bafang, another week without a signature from Vladimir Limaleba.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Fauve Azur Elite were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yves Mbappe. 2‑1 against Fauve Azur Elite, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 19 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Unisport Bafang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Achille Fokem 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 easiest signature of my career.” Boris Mbeumo and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 12 and 8 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Achille Fokem and Unisport Bafang agree another 2 years.
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
1 for Lucky Clement, marked 7.74, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Unisport Bafang had all but put away. Victoria United will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Unisport Bafang dressing room was either.
9 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Unisport Bafang, another week without a signature from Vladimir Limaleba.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vladimir Limaleba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
At 29 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Unisport Bafang have a decision that made itself.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
7 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.06, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Vladimir Limaleba knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It needed Dimitri Mbele to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Aigle Royal de Moungo, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Unisport Bafang and Fortuna Mfou, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 2‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Jean Mbeumo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri Mbele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jacques Moukandjo's mistake
The dugoutYves Mbappe asks for a word with the manager
SquadThe training reports on Benjamin Ondoa are not good
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Unisport Bafang can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri Mbele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Franck Tientcheu has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Lucky Clement 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.
PWD Bamenda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
Franck Tientcheu 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 had been thinking. Lucky Clement 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.
Marked 6.83 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Franck Tientcheu's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Dimitri Mbele was the best thing in any of them.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
A brace, and Dimitri Mbele takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dimitri Mbele provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Achille Fokem 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 had been thinking. Lucky Clement 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Panthere du Nde had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 12 and 12 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucky Clement 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Franck Tientcheu 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. Serge Andoulo 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.” Boris Mbeumo and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
Achille Fokem 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.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Serge Andoulo 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Lucky Clement 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 mark of 7.90, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
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.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Desire Etame is 18, 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gilbert Ngaffa is on it.
“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 Unisport Bafang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Franck Tientcheu 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 Lucky Clement was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Unisport Bafang have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Desire Ekambi
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Achille Fokem 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Lucky Clement 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gilbert Ngaffa is on it.
Dynamo Douala next, and one man in the Unisport Bafang dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unisport Bafang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Unisport Bafang is running low.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Unisport Bafang will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Franck Tientcheu 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. Lucky Clement 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Unisport Bafang, and both men came out saying it was fine.