Marked for Modibo Soumare
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Modibo Soumare damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Match15 Mar 2027
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Jonas Mailula: 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 Bougouni have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Waly Diabaté 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 Bougouni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mahamadou Sissoko 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 terraces15 Mar 2027
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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Binga made US Bougouni work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
Modibo Soumare damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Hamari Sidibe has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at US Bougouni can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Federico Marín and US Bougouni agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Waly Diabaté 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at US Bougouni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Sissoko 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
US Bougouni pull $783.3K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
The mood at US Bougouni 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Modibo Soumare damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at US Bougouni
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at US Bougouni is running low.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 Bougouni can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Waly Diabaté 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 Bougouni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and US Bougouni know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Federico Marín, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Modibo Soumare damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Waly Diabaté 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at US Bougouni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahamadou Sissoko 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Pheko Phago
“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.