Marked for Youssouf Allamine
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moussa Moustapha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Adam Moustapha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Ali Bechir 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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The name of Ahmat Mbaiguedem keeps appearing in other people's back pages. US Moursal say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Ahmat Abakar’s exile
3 goals in 21 games at Elect Sport — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at US Moursal updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Oumar Bechir’s exile
3 goals in 23 games at AS DGSSIE — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at US Moursal updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
24 starts now, an average of 6.66, and the team sheet at AS DGSSIE has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Idriss Youssouf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market26 Apr 2027
US Moursal have let the market know Idriss Youssouf can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
No end in sight to AS DGSSIE's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS DGSSIE has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Apr 2027
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Adam Moustapha out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Apr 2027
4 matches without a goal for AS DGSSIE
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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Renaissance left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The quietest bad news in football. At 16 nothing has moved for months — not backwards, which would at least be a conversation, simply nowhere. Somebody at the club will have to decide whether that is the club's fault or his.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
9 matches without a win for AS DGSSIE
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around AS DGSSIE are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Adam Moustapha out for 31 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Djibrine Mahamat is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS DGSSIE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted AS DGSSIE
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS DGSSIE can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Mar 2027
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Match20 Mar 2027
CotonTchad left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AS DGSSIE told Djibrine Mahamat something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Djibrine Ndoram and US Moursal agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Moussa Moustapha 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saleh Oumar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead8 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hassan Allamine’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and US Moursal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market8 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Moursal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
19 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
20 starts now, an average of 6.66, and the team sheet at AS DGSSIE has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
19 starts and an average of 6.69. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Adam Moustapha out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS DGSSIE will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match1 Feb 2027
AS DGSSIE sink to position 11
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at AS DGSSIE until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youssouf Allamine, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Stars Jeunes Talents 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AS DGSSIE are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑3 to CotonTchad, 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for AS DGSSIE
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at AS DGSSIE
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moubarak Djibrine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Dec 2026
AS DGSSIE leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youssouf Allamine, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the AS DGSSIE 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Moussa Abakar after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Oumar Bechir 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
Squad14 Dec 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdoulaye Bechir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 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 1‑2 Moussa Abakar left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The name of Moubarak Djibrine keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS DGSSIE say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 7. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
Mahamat Ngaradoumbe wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Mahamat Ngaradoumbe found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and US Moursal went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.02 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match21 Nov 2026
The drought breaks for AS DGSSIE
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and US Moursal were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Mahamat Ngaradoumbe 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for AS DGSSIE, 1‑0 the final word against US Moursal in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.” Moussa Abakar, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad23 Nov 2026
At 18 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for AS DGSSIE
A 0‑3 beating by Elect Sport was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS DGSSIE may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to AS DGSSIE's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS DGSSIE has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 Oct 2026
AS DGSSIE cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AS DGSSIE
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moubarak Djibrine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the AS DGSSIE 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Moussa Abakar after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahamat Ngaradoumbe, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Moussa Ngaradoumbe is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Foullah Edifice, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted AS DGSSIE
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS DGSSIE can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Moubarak Djibrine falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Both jobs done by Oumar Bechir — 6.54
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.54, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 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 Moussa Abakar left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
AS DGSSIE take on the side everybody is chasing
Elect Sport arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Abdramane Abba 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Tokindang and AS DGSSIE agree another 3 years.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Aiglons next, and one man in the AS DGSSIE dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoulaye Ndoram trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 DGSSIE can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at AS DGSSIE until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clock did what AS Etat Major would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AS DGSSIE will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Ali Haroun 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at AS DGSSIE than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with AS Etat Major is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: US Moursal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
AS DGSSIE have gone to AS Algoy 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
AS DGSSIE have made the call to Stars Jeunes Talents. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market17 Aug 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Youssouf Allamine arrives from US Moursal with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Abdramane Bechir 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
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with US Moursal is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AS Algoy is saying, and nobody at AS DGSSIE is enjoying the guessing.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdramane Bechir is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdramane Ngaradoumbe 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oumar Tokindang is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saleh Djimet 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around US Moursal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Moursal can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Aug 2026
Renaissance come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and US Moursal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. US Moursal have done the hard part with AS PSI, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Narcisse Allamine and US Moursal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Narcisse 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nasarawa United have kept their man, and US Moursal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Youssouf 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Moubarak Djibrine commits to AS DGSSIE for another 3 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
AS DGSSIE have made the call to Stars Jeunes Talents. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Idriss Abba is in the works
AS DGSSIE have made the call to AS Algoy. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.