Marked for Pablo Matavele
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Henry Tchikeu 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
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flávio Boaventura 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michel Mbeleck, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Mar 2027
Cotonsport Garoua go through and Colombe du Dja et Lobo go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market5 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market5 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Flávio Boaventura 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Colombe du Dja et Lobo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Flávio Boaventura 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.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
“I watch every Colombe du Dja et Lobo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle Garoua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Randy Ntume gets it from the manager
“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
Uneasy
Match13 Feb 2027
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Feb 2027
4 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Henry Tchikeu 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
20 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Cédric Landry Djomo 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pablo Matavele, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Édouard Sombang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Henry Tchikeu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Colombe du Dja et Lobo will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colombe du Dja et Lobo, another week without a signature from Pablo Matavele.
Match23 Jan 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Unisport Bafang defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
There were 7 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A defender's afternoon for Arthur Yene
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Henry Tchikeu 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flávio Boaventura 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 ratings18 Jan 2027
Edmond Sindjo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.59. 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.