Marked for Issa Adoum
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
9 matches without a win for US Moursal
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around US Moursal are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑3 against AS Etat Major, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market21 Dec 2026
Adam Doungous 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
This is not rotation. Adam Doungous has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at US Moursal is pretending otherwise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Moussa Mahamat: 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.” US Moursal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match19 Dec 2026
US Moursal are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mahamat 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Adoum 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to US Moursal's wait for a win
8 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match14 Dec 2026
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market14 Dec 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abdoulaye Moustapha did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Dec 2026
5 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Adoum 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
Uneasy
Market7 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Issa 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahamat Tokindang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Abdramane Abba is the month’s best young player
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. US Moursal will try not to make too much of it.
Loan watch7 Dec 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 6 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Allamine, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Adam Doungous knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at US Moursal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Nov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to US Moursal's wait for a win
7 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mahamat Tokindang and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for US Moursal
4 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Issa Adoum 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.
Loan watch30 Nov 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 2 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Brahim Abakar after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Abdramane Abba takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdramane Abba provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.04, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for US Moursal
6 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mahamat 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Issa Adoum 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.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdramane Abba 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saleh Allamine 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Allamine 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
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Issa Adoum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at US Moursal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamat Tokindang 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 watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Moursal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS DGSSIE runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Galactik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Adam Hissein
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Adam Hissein has come out of that comparison in the side, and US Moursal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Issa Ndoram
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Issa Adoum
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Foullah Edifice runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Adam Doungous knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at US Moursal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A US Moursal teenager takes the young player award
Adam Hissein is 16, 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ezechiel Moustapha is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Issa Adoum 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 US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mahamat Tokindang has improved at 28, 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 Sep 2026
A row about effort at US Moursal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Doungous was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ahmat Youssouf’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Issa Adoum is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Moussa Doungous will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around US Moursal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AS Algoy keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adam Doungous has improved at 26, 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and US Moursal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adam Doungous 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every US Moursal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. US Moursal have done the hard part with AS Algoy, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mahamat Tokindang and US Moursal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Issa Adoum 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 US Moursal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mahamat Tokindang 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Gazelle: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Foullah Edifice 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.