Marked for
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Apr 2030
24 matches without a win for Binga
The run now stands at 24, and the questions being asked around Binga are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Hossam El Hadary damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Match6 Apr 2030
Binga taken apart
0‑3 to US Bougouni, 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.
Market8 Apr 2030
“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.
Match6 Apr 2030
No clean sheets in sight for Binga
8 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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
6 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.
Market8 Apr 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Binga is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Apr 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Namory Diarra commits to Binga for another 4 years.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Barou Sanogo 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 Binga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jan 2030
14 matches without a win for Binga
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Binga are no longer polite ones.
Market21 Jan 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Binga have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match19 Jan 2030
Chastening afternoon for Binga
A 0‑4 beating by Onze Createurs was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
Massiré Gassama: 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.” Binga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match19 Jan 2030
Binga are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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 Binga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jan 2030
46 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2030
The deal with Real Bamako 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Binga
Barou Sanogo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jan 2030
No end in sight to Binga's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Binga has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces7 Jan 2030
Anger at Binga spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match7 Jan 2030
Binga are in real trouble now
Position 14, 4 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.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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 Binga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jan 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Binga have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match5 Jan 2030
Binga are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2030
Binga had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Etoiles du Mande, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Barou Sanogo 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 Binga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match22 Dec 2029
Chastening afternoon for Binga
A 0‑9 beating by Djoliba was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match22 Dec 2029
No end in sight to Binga's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Binga has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
Brian Odhiambo: 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.” Binga have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market24 Dec 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 Binga, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Dec 2029
Binga are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Binga
Barou Sanogo 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.
Match22 Dec 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Binga and Djoliba in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sory Traoré, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces12 Nov 2029
Supporters organise against the Binga board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad12 Nov 2029
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.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match10 Nov 2029
The wait goes on for Binga
5 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.
Market12 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Binga can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Barou Sanogo 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 Binga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stéphane Meunier and Binga agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Binga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Namory Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to a squad player, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2029
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.
Match31 Oct 2029
Binga out of the cup
Real Bamako ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market5 Nov 2029
“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.
Match3 Nov 2029
No clean sheets in sight for Binga
6 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
No end in sight to Binga's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Binga has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Binga
Barou Sanogo 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
a squad player’s goal not enough for Binga
a squad player scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to FC Diarra, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mamadou Maguiraga commits to Binga for another 1 years.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Ferdinand Kanga 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Kelyan Hamadi
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Barou Sanogo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The caretaker keeps it: Boubacar Kouyate confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match27 Oct 2029
A hiding for Binga
Beaten 0‑4 by Real Bamako, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad29 Oct 2029
8 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Binga
Barou Sanogo 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Binga
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ferdinand Kanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Oct 2029
Binga 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Massiré Gassama
“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.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Nobody left the Binga 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
11 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
0‑2 to AS Bakaridjan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Barou Sanogo
“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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Boubacar Kouyate after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Khaled Walid 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 Binga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead22 Oct 2029
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Bamako in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Every debut is a small story about the future: a squad player, 23 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Binga
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Binga is running low.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Binga
Barou Sanogo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Binga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ferdinand Kanga 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 dugout24 Sep 2029
Massiré Gassama has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Binga 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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Massiré Gassama 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.
Market24 Sep 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Massiré Gassama signs something — a contract at Binga or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Sep 2029
Binga sink to position 13
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market10 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Binga can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Sep 2029
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. US Bougouni moved on, Massiré Gassama reports back to Binga, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Binga
Barou Sanogo 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mamadou Maguiraga and Binga agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Binga asked and Afrique Foot Elite said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Binga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namory Diarra 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
The clock did what Djoliba would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Market10 Sep 2029
“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.