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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS DGSSIE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Evandro Gomes 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.
This is not rotation. Ezechiel Ngaradoumbe has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS DGSSIE is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Marius Ndoram 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.
“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 dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ali Haroun was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AS DGSSIE dressing room was either.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Oumar Bechir has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“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 The request is on a desk at AS DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS DGSSIE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at AS DGSSIE
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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evandro Gomes 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. Ahmat Oumar 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adam Ndoram 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.
Abeiku Atiemo 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.
In brief
BoardroomAS DGSSIE turn down the training-ground plan
The dugoutBrian Marani 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.
“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 DGSSIE, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to AS Etat Major 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.
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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS DGSSIE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Renaissance keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
AS DGSSIE have gone to Elect Sport with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Evandro Gomes 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdoulaye Moustapha and AS DGSSIE agree another 3 years.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ezechiel Ngaradoumbe has his answer from AS DGSSIE; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS DGSSIE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer went to AS Etat Major 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.
Abdoulaye Moustapha was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The name of Abeiku Atiemo has come up in conversations AS DGSSIE were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS DGSSIE lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 12 and 20 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Evandro Gomes 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS DGSSIE know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 AS DGSSIE will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS DGSSIE 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 DGSSIE have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Evandro Gomes 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.
“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 DGSSIE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Abeiku Atiemo 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Evandro Gomes 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 DGSSIE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7 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.
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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ali Haroun after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Ndoram 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Djibrine Moustapha will call it something else in private.
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.
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 DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evandro Gomes 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout27 Dec 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.” Ali Haroun chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one AS DGSSIE will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Evandro Gomes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marius Ndoram was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Djibrine Moustapha and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Evandro Gomes 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 looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at AS DGSSIE the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
The terraces2 Aug 2027
The mood at AS DGSSIE 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
An order from above at AS DGSSIE: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Abeiku Atiemo 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Djibrine Moustapha from AS Etat Major for $23.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
AS DGSSIE 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evandro Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Evandro Gomes and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
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 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.
AS DGSSIE have gone to AS Etat Major with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Evandro Gomes 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Algoy have kept their man, and AS DGSSIE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Ndoram 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 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.
“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 name of Djibrine Moustapha has come up in conversations AS Etat Major were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and a squad player trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
AS Etat Major asked and Foullah Edifice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
a squad player 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
Youssouf Abba is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdramane Mbainaissem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssouf Adoum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 6 on 37 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.
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 DGSSIE 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. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS DGSSIE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at AS DGSSIE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evandro Gomes 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oumar Bechir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Issa Souleymane 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hassan Adoum 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.
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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Issa Allamine did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
US Moursal made AS Etat Major work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezechiel Mbainaissem 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Youssouf Adoum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saleh Tokindang signs something — a contract at AS Etat Major or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.