Marked for Uchechi Okoye
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Nov 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against US Forces Armees, and it could have been more.
Market29 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Police is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Nov 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 AS Police this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at AS Police training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samba Só 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 terraces29 Nov 2027
He is 21 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
Quilma 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Samba Só takes the honours
Marked 7.78 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AS Police had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout29 Nov 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.” Hamari Djenepo, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Jailton Mundo asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces15 Nov 2027
The mood at AS Police has turned into something else
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.
Squad15 Nov 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 AS Police this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at AS Police
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Pina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tidiane Djiby Ba, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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.
Market15 Nov 2027
The clock does Osman Abdi’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS Police could ask drops and the wages Osman Abdi can ask rise.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at AS Police would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market15 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Malick Berthé’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market15 Nov 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
43 days out for Iddrisu Shaibu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Police will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Malick Berthé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
AS Police asked and Stade Malien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at AS Police
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samba Só was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Samy Benhaddou
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
A promise honoured at AS Police
Something was said to Samba Só and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market16 Aug 2027
The Samba Só talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Police know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market16 Aug 2027
Still no signature from Osman Abdi
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what AS Police could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nikson Moreira
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Police lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Aug 2027
AS Police sink to position 13
23 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Iddrisu Shaibu out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Police will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anozie Chinedu and AS Police agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at AS Police
Mexer 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Malien have kept their man, and AS Police go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sasha Bernard, and the manager let it.
Market9 Aug 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Police, another week without a signature from Samy Benhaddou.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Yaya Konaté asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Police lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Hamari Djenepo has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Police can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad2 Aug 2027
58 days out for Iddrisu Shaibu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Police will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 AS Police, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anozie Chinedu commits to AS Police for another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Mexer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Bamako have kept their man, and AS Police go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout2 Aug 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.