Marked for Mahamat Tokindang
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad8 Jan 2029
5 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad8 Jan 2029
28 goals and a season average of 7.77. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match6 Jan 2029
8‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Issa Hissein, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market8 Jan 2029
Saleh Hissein has one foot out of the door
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.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Marius Bechir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Match6 Jan 2029
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AS Etat Major and AS DGSSIE in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Dec 2028
1‑4 against AS PSI, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A one-man rearguard from Saleh Djimet
There were 8 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.
Match1 Jan 2029
25 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and AS Etat Major have had the benefit of it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A season average of 7.54 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Mahamat Tokindang 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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
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.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Chances created: 8. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Dec 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Stars Jeunes Talents, and it could have been more.
Squad18 Dec 2028
The match ball belongs to Marius Bechir, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Marius Bechir is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.58 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Issa Hissein, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.65
A mark of 8.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad18 Dec 2028
At 18, Issa Hissein is already the best thing here
An average of 7.04 in a first team he is several years too young for. AS Etat Major have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market18 Dec 2028
“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.
Match16 Dec 2028
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market18 Dec 2028
Idriss Oumar has one foot out of the door
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.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Marius Bechir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.44. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Dec 2028
US Moursal will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AS Etat Major were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market11 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The match ball belongs to Marius Bechir, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Issa Hissein, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.58
A mark of 8.58 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Marius Bechir
16 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marius Bechir was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.83. 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmat Abba and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Marked 8.84. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AS Etat Major.
The terraces11 Dec 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Issa Hissein 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A brace, and Marius Ngaradoumbe takes the afternoon — 9.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marius Ngaradoumbe provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market13 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Ahmat Abba: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Match11 Nov 2028
Nobody wants to play AS Etat Major right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Marius Ngaradoumbe 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for AS Etat Major. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match11 Nov 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marius Ngaradoumbe. 3‑1 against Aiglons, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmat Abba 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Issa Hissein, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Oct 2028
A 3‑8 beating by Renaissance was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market16 Oct 2028
“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.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
A brace, and Oumar Allamine takes the afternoon — 8.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Oumar Allamine provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Idriss Oumar, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match14 Oct 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 11 goals between AS Etat Major and Renaissance, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. AS Etat Major deserved better, and so did he.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Adam Mahamat pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Beaten 6 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Saleh Djimet in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Oumar Mbainaissem 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Oumar Allamine has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AS Etat Major will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Ahmat Abba 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
Upbeat
Market28 Aug 2028
“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.
Market28 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Aug 2028
He is 17, he is averaging 7.12, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market28 Aug 2028
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Saleh Djimet has improved at 31, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmat Abba 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
Upbeat
Market19 Jun 2028
“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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Marius Ngaradoumbe 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
A conversation is coming this week. AS Etat Major will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2028
Marius Bechir is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.55 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market28 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marius Bechir and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match26 Feb 2028
Marius Bechir scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Gazelle, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmat Abba 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Ahmat Abba could not find anything
5.51. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Chances created: 5. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Feb 2028
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Marius Ngaradoumbe decided nobody was going anywhere. Elect Sport had no time left to answer.
Market21 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Marius Ngaradoumbe
20 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Mahamat Bechir 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
A 2‑1 win over Elect Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Adam 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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Ahmat Abba 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 ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
23 goals and a season average of 7.58. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market14 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. AS Etat Major know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Market14 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Abdoulaye Bechir reports back to AS Etat Major with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Etat Major may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Feb 2028
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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
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. 12 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Market14 Feb 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jan 2028
AS Algoy come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Etat Major did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
At 17, Issa Hissein is already the best thing here
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. AS Etat Major have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad17 Jan 2028
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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Ahmat Abba 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Saleh Djimet out for 75 days
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.
Market1 Nov 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.60, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad1 Nov 2027
There were 6 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match30 Oct 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between AS Etat Major and CotonTchad, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Nov 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mahamat Tokindang has his answer from AS Etat Major; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Abdoulaye Oumar
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.