13 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Aziz Sabiri 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 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.
15 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.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. a squad player will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ezechiel Ndoram after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutOmar Hakimi knocks on the manager’s door
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 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.
6 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 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.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
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.
5 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.
Aziz Sabiri 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. El Mehdi El Khannouss 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.
5 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.
Aziz Sabiri 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 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 Yassine Mazraoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Hassan Allamine 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Mazraoui 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Hassan Allamine 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ezechiel Ndoram to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saleh Adoum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marius Oumar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stars Jeunes Talents have kept their man, and AS Etat Major go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Mazraoui 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.
In brief
The dugoutAli Tokindang knocks on the manager’s door
The mood at AS Etat Major 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
AS Etat Major had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Galactik, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Aziz Sabiri 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Mazraoui 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 have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Etat Major have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
AS Etat Major close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Etat Major asked and Galactik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Hassan Allamine 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.
AS Etat Major asked and AS PSI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AS Etat Major have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Aug 2027
6 new faces, and AS Etat Major are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutAziz Sabiri knocks on the manager's door
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Foullah Edifice have kept their man, and AS Etat Major go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aziz Sabiri 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Galactik have kept their man, and AS Etat Major go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
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 Etat Major would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS Etat Major will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major 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 AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS Etat Major will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Etat Major can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The offer from US Moursal for Marius Oumar 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.
Everything agreed with Stars Jeunes Talents, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Hassan Allamine 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
24 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at AS Etat Major now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad5 Jul 2027
6 new faces, and AS Etat Major are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
AS Etat Major asked and AS PSI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Omar Hakimi 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 thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Etat Major have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Foullah Edifice for Issa Adoum 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.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 10 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezechiel Ndoram has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at CotonTchad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Etat Major lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at AS Etat Major
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Hassan Allamine and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Omar Hakimi 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Allamine signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee AS Etat Major could ask drops and the wages Ali Ndoram can ask rise.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major 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.” AS Etat Major have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 goals in 23 games at Gazelle — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Etat Major updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Omar Hakimi signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Etat Major lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezechiel Ndoram has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Bicto Tyonga 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 easiest signature of my career.” Yassine Mazraoui and AS Etat Major agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 May 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Bicto Tyonga was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at AS Etat Major is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hassan Allamine signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Etat Major lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
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.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 11 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ezechiel Ndoram left the room before anybody could ask which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmat Ndoram signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Mahamat Bechir will want back
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Etat Major lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. AS Etat Major scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Hassan Allamine 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
He is 22 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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 0 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ezechiel Ndoram chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against US Moursal? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Moustapha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Omar Hakimi 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Issa Abba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS Etat Major needing him to play as if none of it matters.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Etat Major can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.49, and 2 involvements.
Bicto Tyonga 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Hakimi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Issa Abba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
Bicto Tyonga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foullah Edifice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Aiglons? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
16 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.
Position 12 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
AS Etat Major asked and ENPPI said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Omar Hakimi 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 mood at AS Etat Major 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at AS Etat Major
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The offer from Gazelle for Saleh Oumar 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Etat Major asked and CotonTchad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
Katsina United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Etat Major have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Narcisse Tokindang is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panthere du Nde have kept their man, and AS Etat Major go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Omar Hakimi 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 phone has started ringing about Abdramane Allamine again, and this time the name on the line is AS DGSSIE. AS Etat Major are listening politely and promising nothing.
Position 11 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Omar Hakimi 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.
Saleh Oumar 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.
0‑3 to Stars Jeunes Talents, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
6 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foullah Edifice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Ezechiel Ndoram left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AS Etat Major will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ezechiel Ndoram left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutBicto Tyonga asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Etat Major can tell you which week it ends in.
Bicto Tyonga 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 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.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Etat Major can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Omar Hakimi 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 will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Bicto Tyonga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Omar Hakimi 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.
“I did not go to Foullah Edifice to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Etat Major and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
“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 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 Elect Sport.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ali Tokindang trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 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.
Marked 6.75 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Saleh Oumar 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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the AS Etat Major dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Foullah Edifice next, and one man in the AS Etat Major dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
“I watch every AS Etat Major game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS PSI runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at AS Etat Major the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at AS Etat Major saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 7.35 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AS Etat Major had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ezechiel Ndoram chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Renaissance? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 AS Etat Major, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Etat Major, another week without a signature from Saleh Oumar.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Etat Major know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Etat Major, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Omar Hakimi 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Omar Hakimi 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hassan Doungous has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Issa Adoum 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. Brahim Mbainaissem 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.
Bicto Tyonga 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Youssouf Doungous signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marius Oumar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Abdramane Hissein may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Adam Djimet to AS DGSSIE has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AS Etat Major with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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 Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. US Moursal moved on, Abdramane Hissein reports back to AS Etat Major, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
$33.0K was the most the club would pay and AS Algoy were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
AS Etat Major asked and AS Algoy said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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.
AS Etat Major ran out of time with PWD Bamenda. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yassine Mazraoui has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Etat Major can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to PWD Bamenda this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Hassan Allamine 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.
AS Etat Major asked and US Moursal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Gazelle have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mahamat Mbaiguedem. The answer from AS Etat Major has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Etat Major have done the hard part with Foullah Edifice, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Youssouf Doungous 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Hakimi 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 name of Ezechiel Mbaiguedem has come up in conversations AS Etat Major were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Hakimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Gazelle have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aziz Sabiri. The answer from AS Etat Major has not changed — yet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmat Ndoram trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.