Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aigle Royal de la Menoua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Éric Mefoe 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 words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aigle Royal de la Menoua can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aigle Royal de la Menoua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ulrich Lobé 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.
“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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and 17 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aigle Royal de la Menoua can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aigle Royal de la Menoua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Herval Joel Ndedi Kingue 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aigle Royal de la Menoua can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Habdoullah Lifab will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aigle Royal de la Menoua the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aigle Royal de la Menoua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Aigle Royal de la Menoua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aigle Royal de Moungo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 9.20 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Blaise Fuh Ndiforchu 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ismaël Fansu 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.
Marc Tsala Ndi 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.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aigle Royal de la Menoua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aigle Royal de la Menoua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua 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: Seini Hamit. 2‑0 against Fortuna Mfou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
16 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.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Seini Hamit
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Unisport Bafang kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Aigle Royal de la Menoua will be asked about the last half hour all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aigle Royal de la Menoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.68 — 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.
“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 Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.