It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Ben Aknoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Adil Djabout 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 ES Ben Aknoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Adil Djabout 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.
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.
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.
Suleiman Abdullahi 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.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. USM Alger defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Ben Aknoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Abdelatif Ramdane has given nobody the chance.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at ES Ben Aknoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chemseddine Lakehal 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nassim Feghouli has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Suleiman Abdullahi 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Nassim Yattou 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.
4 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 ES Ben Aknoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
A 0‑3 beating by JS Kabylie was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The terraces6 Sep 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 13 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kendry Domingo is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Ben Aknoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at ES Ben Aknoun
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at ES Ben Aknoun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chemseddine Lakehal 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Said Slimani has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ali Touba has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“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 ES Ben Aknoun, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Suleiman Abdullahi 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.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kendry Domingo has just signed for ES Ben Aknoun, and for once the answer mattered.
He is 20, and nobody at ES Ben Aknoun signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Robert Adokwe is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Odah Marshall 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” George Odhiambo and Gazelle Garoua agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gazelle Garoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Gazelle Garoua training over how hard people work
The offer from Aigle Royal de Moungo for Kendry Domingo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Odah Marshall 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.
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 offer from Colombe du Dja et Lobo for Marcel Fobang was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
George Odhiambo 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 did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Gazelle Garoua will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
SquadWords at Gazelle Garoua training over how hard people work
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Gazelle Garoua will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gazelle Garoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kendry Domingo and Gazelle Garoua agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He is 20, and nobody at Gazelle Garoua signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gazelle Garoua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gazelle Garoua 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 Gazelle Garoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Gazelle Garoua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Odhiambo 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.
George Odhiambo 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 will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
“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 Gazelle Garoua, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ange Constant Kenfack has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
George Odhiambo 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.
9 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Gazelle Garoua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacques Kotto 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gazelle Garoua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Gazelle Garoua did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Gazelle Garoua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muller Fernandes 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 127 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Panthere du Nde the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Gazelle Garoua will enjoy reviewing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
George Odhiambo 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.