A 1‑5 beating by Elect Sport was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
The mood at US Moursal 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.
6 goals in one match, Mahamat Ngaradoumbe on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of US Moursal and Elect Sport.
Mahamat 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.02, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Beaten 5 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.
The mood at US Moursal 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.
Mahamat 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.
At 22 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Souleymane 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.
Mahamat 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.
8.04. 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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Narcisse Hissein 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.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Idriss Mbaiguedem signs something — a contract at US Moursal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
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. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Mahamat 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Moursal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Narcisse Hissein is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Moursal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mahamat 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.
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Moustapha 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Renaissance will make the call about Mahamat Haroun this week. US Moursal have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Idriss Mbaiguedem and US Moursal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Mahamat 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.
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djibrine Souleymane 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mahamat Haroun has his answer from US Moursal; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Moursal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Moursal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oumar Moustapha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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 US Moursal have had the benefit of it.
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 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at US Moursal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Idriss Mbaiguedem 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.
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.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abdoulaye Souleymane did not need any: 8.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Oumar Moustapha 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdoulaye Souleymane 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.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abdramane Tokindang did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about US Moursal and AS PSI in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Oumar Moustapha 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.
Add another name to the list: Gazelle have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdoulaye Souleymane. The answer from US Moursal has not changed — yet.
Two goals and a mark of 7.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Idriss Mbaiguedem and US Moursal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between US Moursal and Galactik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
2‑7 to Stars Jeunes Talents, 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdramane Ndoram provided it, and the 7.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
The offer from AS Etat Major for Abdoulaye Souleymane 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A first appearance Moussa Adoum will want to forget — 5.67
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.67, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Oumar Moustapha 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Narcisse Hissein is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The offer from Afrique Foot Elite for Mahamat Ngaradoumbe 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.
Mahamat 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.
Aiglons paid $4.0K and US Moursal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
The name of Djibrine Haroun has come up in conversations US Moursal were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer from AS PSI for Abdramane Ndoram 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.
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. Idriss Mbaiguedem 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.
Add another name to the list: Galactik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Moussa Adoum. The answer from US Moursal has not changed — yet.