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.
7 goals in 26 games at Gazelle Garoua — 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.
Position 5 on 39 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Colombe du Dja et Lobo the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
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.
Squad12 Apr 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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 39 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Édouard Sombang and Colombe du Dja et Lobo agree another 4 years.
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.
The new man at Colombe du Dja et Lobo has worked with Michel Mbeleck before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Achille Bekale could afford to be generous.
James Tendoh is 20, 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.
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.
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.
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The new man at Colombe du Dja et Lobo has worked with Michel Mbeleck before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Achille Bekale could afford to be generous.
The shirt still fits. Michel Mbeleck is back at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Unisport Bafang, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The new man at Colombe du Dja et Lobo has worked with Michel Mbeleck before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colombe du Dja et Lobo can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Edmond Sindjo was at the centre of it, Aigle Royal de Moungo were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
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.
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
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.
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout18 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.” Achille Bekale, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joseph Ngadena is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Achille Bekale after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Dynamo Douala will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Colombe du Dja et Lobo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jean Hugues Eyango provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
Marked 8.14 — 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. 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 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.” Achille Bekale, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
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.
Position 8, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
A mark of 7.87, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Achille Bekale, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Colombe du Dja et Lobo told Calistus Akoh something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Colombe du Dja et Lobo did not have in the autumn.
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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Jean Hugues Eyango was the best thing in any of them.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Fauve Azur Elite defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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 team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against PWD Bamenda.
PWD Bamenda next, and one man in the Colombe du Dja et Lobo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.