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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Algoy 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 Algoy 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 Oumar Mahamat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Brahim Goudja 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brahim Goudja 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.
A performance of 8.52 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
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.” Brahim Mbaiguedem, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Brahim Souleymane’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS PSI needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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 Algoy 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 Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Algoy asked and Stars Jeunes Talents said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8 goals in 14 games at AS DGSSIE — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at AS Algoy updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Mahamat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Idriss Adoum 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.
Issa 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Moussa Allamine is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saleh 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.
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 Algoy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to AS PSI to sit and watch. I want to come back to AS Algoy and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Abba to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Tannane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ahmat Bechir signs something — a contract at AS Algoy or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bark Abdramane is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Brahim Mbaiguedem after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Nassar Koulelengar's mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Issa Tokindang 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 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.
Idriss Adoum is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Elect Sport defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Vincent Mabouka 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 Mahamat Abba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AS Algoy 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.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to CotonTchad
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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.
Issa 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.20, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I watch every AS PSI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Algoy runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ahmat Ndoram 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. Adam 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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Idriss Adoum 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 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.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 20. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. AS PSI would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Algoy lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Vincent Mabouka 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.
“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 Algoy, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ahmat Hissein 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ali Haroun trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. US Moursal have kept their man, and AS Algoy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Hakim Tannane 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 season-long look at somebody else’s player: Noël Allaramadji arrives from AS PSI with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
The deal with AS Algoy 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.
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 PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AS Etat Major 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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Idriss Adoum arrives from AS Algoy with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
A new face in his position, and Issa Malloum Issa suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. AS PSI have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“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 PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The minutes were not coming at AS PSI, so they will be looked for at CotonTchad. A loan out is not a goodbye, but it is always a question: about the player, or about the plan.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AS Algoy waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS PSI is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with AS Algoy 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. US Moursal have kept their man, and AS PSI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mahamat Abakar 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brahim Ngaradoumbe 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. Hassan 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.