Marked for Abdramane Hissein
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ezechiel Oumar
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Dec 2026
US Moursal are in real trouble now
Position 12, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to US Moursal's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at US Moursal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saleh Allamine 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match26 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for US Moursal?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Elect Sport? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market28 Dec 2026
The Oumar Abakar story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oumar Abakar signs something — a contract at US Moursal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ezechiel Oumar
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to US Moursal's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at US Moursal has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The US Moursal board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Match31 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for US Moursal
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boburbek Yorbekov 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑5 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdramane Hissein
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ezechiel Mbainaissem is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market12 Oct 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between US Moursal and CotonTchad, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brahim Souleymane 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Djibrine Youssouf has improved at 30, 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.
Boardroom12 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“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 US Moursal, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdramane Hissein
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marius Bechir is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Boburbek Yorbekov commits to US Moursal for another 3 years.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Gazelle left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market5 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Narcisse Haroun 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.
Market5 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adam Doungous is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdramane Hissein
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 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 US Moursal can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Djibrine Oumar is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marius 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“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 US Moursal, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdramane Hissein
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Moursal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Sep 2026
“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 US Moursal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Abdramane Abakar is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Saleh Allamine has improved at 30, 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Marius Bechir hands in a written request
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Elect Sport for Saleh Allamine 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Marius Bechir has come up in conversations US Moursal were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saleh Allamine 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.