The USM Alger Chronicle
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Abdelhak Brahimi out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Alger will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Zakaria Draoui 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 USM Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Houssemeddine Ghacha runs at them all day
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at USM Alger
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Che Malone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
One of those days for Zakaria Draoui
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Haithem Loucif 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
Hamza Boualem wants to come home
“I did not go to ES Mostaganem to sit and watch. I want to come back to USM Alger and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
One moment undoes Haithem Loucif
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Haithem Loucif's mistake
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
- Match USM Alger share the spoils with ES Mostaganem
- Market The shop window has Ilyes Chetti in it
- The dugout Half-satisfied: Hillal Ounas on the draw