Marked for Benjamin Siani
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 Mar 2033
Supporters organise against the Unisport Bafang 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.
Match21 Mar 2033
Position 10 on 27 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market21 Mar 2033
“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.
Squad21 Mar 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Mar 2033
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Unisport Bafang is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match19 Mar 2033
0‑1 to Fauve Azur Elite, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Mar 2033
The game went through Achille Fokem — 7.02
Marked 7.02 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout21 Mar 2033
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings21 Mar 2033
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets31 Jan 2033
Fee done, terms next for Boris Siani
Unisport Bafang and Fortuna Mfou have settled on $8.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market31 Jan 2033
Herve Mbia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Unisport Bafang they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Jan 2033
Achille Fokem 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cotonsport Garoua have kept their man, and Unisport Bafang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Jan 2033
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
“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.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout31 Jan 2033
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jan 2033
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market10 Jan 2033
“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 Unisport Bafang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
$150.0K on the table at Dynamo Douala. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fauve Azur Elite have kept their man, and Unisport Bafang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Jan 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Georges Bekale 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.
Market10 Jan 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuel Siani 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.
Market10 Jan 2033
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcel Hongla 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Nov 2032
Anger at Unisport Bafang 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.
Match30 Oct 2032
7 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.
Squad1 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Nov 2032
David Ngameni ran the middle of the pitch — 7.06
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 7.06, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yves Mbappe, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2032
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Vladimir Limaleba knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
Vladimir Limaleba is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Oct 2032
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Unisport Bafang are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
Edgar Ekambi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match23 Oct 2032
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Gazelle Garoua will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
Ambroise Ngamaleu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Unisport Bafang 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 dugout25 Oct 2032
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad25 Oct 2032
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Unisport Bafang was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Sep 2032
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad27 Sep 2032
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market27 Sep 2032
“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 Unisport Bafang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Vladimir Limaleba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Sep 2032
0‑2 to Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Trezeguet Hegazi, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead27 Sep 2032
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Yves Mbappe’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Unisport Bafang needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
The one thing Desire Etame could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets23 Aug 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Unisport Bafang have done the hard part with Cotonsport Garoua, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2032
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.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
The manager makes an example of Yves Mbappe
“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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2032
A loan enquiry to Fauve Azur Elite: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad23 Aug 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Collins Mbeumo commits to Unisport Bafang for another 3 years.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
Benjamin Siani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Unisport Bafang 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 dugout23 Aug 2032
Joel Aboubakar 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 Unisport Bafang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
54 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Unisport Bafang have done the hard part with Cotonsport Garoua, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cotonsport Garoua is saying, and nobody at Unisport Bafang is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
A loan enquiry to PWD Bamenda: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Edgar Ekambi
“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.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Benjamin Siani is on it.
Squad26 Jul 2032
“I want to play”: Edgar Ekambi speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
Michel Song knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michel Song trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Jun 2032
Pressure builds in the Unisport Bafang boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Franck Tientcheu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2032
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Words at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serge Andoulo 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 targets21 Jun 2032
Cotonsport Garoua 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
A loan move for Faris Karram is in the works
Unisport Bafang have made the call to Cotonsport Garoua. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2032
Pressure builds in the Unisport Bafang boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 May 2032
Becker Tcheuani 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.
Squad24 May 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucky Clement was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2032
The manager makes an example of Jean Mbeumo
“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.
The dugout24 May 2032
Benjamin Siani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Unisport Bafang 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 May 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Unisport Bafang
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Franck Tientcheu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucky Clement 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 dugout26 Apr 2032
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
Desire Etame 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 Unisport Bafang, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
The Unisport Bafang production line keeps running
50 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Unisport Bafang
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Achille Fokem 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 dugout29 Mar 2032
Yves Mbappe gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Words at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serge Andoulo 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 dugout29 Mar 2032
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The Unisport Bafang production line keeps running
50 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2032
The mood at Unisport Bafang 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
What a way to start for Eric Moukoudi — 7.49
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.49 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Match22 Mar 2032
25 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Franck Tientcheu 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2032
The game went through Collins Ekambi — 7.07
Marked 7.07 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Lucky Clement 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.
Match20 Mar 2032
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Fauve Azur Elite had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad22 Mar 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benjamin Siani and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
Match20 Mar 2032
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Pressure builds in the Unisport Bafang boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match28 Feb 2032
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Unisport Bafang are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Franck Tientcheu 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucky Clement 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2032
The game went through David Ngameni — 6.83
Marked 6.83 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match28 Feb 2032
Victoria United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Franck Tientcheu loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Franck Tientcheu's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad1 Mar 2032
The division's best last weekend was a Unisport Bafang man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Dimitri Mbele was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout15 Dec 2031
“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.
Match13 Dec 2031
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Unisport Bafang are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Franck Tientcheu 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Serge Andoulo 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Boris Mbeumo and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad15 Dec 2031
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Unisport Bafang lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Nov 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucky Clement was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“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.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Benjamin Siani is on it.
Market17 Nov 2031
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Unisport Bafang could ask drops and the wages Juillard Abeng Mefoe can ask rise.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Questions about Yves Mbappe on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Oct 2031
“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 Unisport Bafang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Franck Tientcheu 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucky Clement was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“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.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Desire Etame is the weekend's best young player
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Unisport Bafang have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Oct 2031
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
The terraces6 Oct 2031
The mood at Unisport Bafang 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.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
What a way to start for Herve Mbia — 7.38
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.38 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad6 Oct 2031
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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Franck Tientcheu and Unisport Bafang agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Franck Tientcheu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces6 Oct 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Sep 2031
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Market15 Sep 2031
“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 Unisport Bafang, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Achille Fokem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Sep 2031
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets15 Sep 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Canon Yaounde have kept their man, and Unisport Bafang go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucky Clement was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Sep 2031
Stade Renard de Melong left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad15 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eric Moukoudi and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.