“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 The request is on a desk at AS Korofina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: US Forces Armees have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cheick Sacko. The answer from AS Korofina has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Almeida 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.
Ilyes Oularbi 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.
AS Korofina have made the call to Afrique Foot Elite. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
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 Dramane Traoré is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Ranschaert was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Korofina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mehdi Ouaya and AS Korofina agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Bruno Almeida 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Cheick Sacko is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. AS Korofina will try very hard not to make too much of it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Diby Keita is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Dramane Traoré is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Korofina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 11 on 29 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.
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
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 1‑2 Ibrahim Diaby left the room before anybody could ask which.
Alexis Ortega 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florent Guilavogui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Korofina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Cheick Sacko, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 9.27
A mark of 9.27 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Korofina can pretend not to have heard.
A 3‑2 win over US Bougouni, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Bruno Almeida 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The goal that put US Bougouni ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when AS Korofina equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Abdelaziz Youssouf.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ethane Lipinski 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.
Nobody at AS Korofina 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Korofina, another week without a signature from Ilyes Oularbi.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Sacko 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cheick Sacko. 1‑0 against US Forces Armees, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ibrahim Diaby on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Tom Teillol, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lou Alexandre will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Korofina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abdoulaye Traoré. 3‑1 against Afrique Foot Elite, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Bruno Almeida 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.
At 20 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.
Marked 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at AS Korofina who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Korofina, another week without a signature from Abdelaziz Youssouf.
A brace, and Cheick Sacko takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cheick Sacko provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It finished 3‑1, and it was Cheick Sacko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS Korofina.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Bruno Almeida 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Sacko 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.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Alexis Ortega 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Korofina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ibrahim Diaby after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Korofina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florent Guilavogui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Korofina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Korofina can pretend not to have heard.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS Korofina has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Almeida 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“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.
Nobody at AS Korofina 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.
In brief
SquadCheick Sacko is the weekend's best young player
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lou Alexandre will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Korofina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Forces Armees waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AS Korofina is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 AS Korofina, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AS Korofina can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Almeida 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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Korofina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cheick Sacko. 2‑1 against Afrique Foot Elite, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Sacko 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.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Diby Keita was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Korofina, another week without a signature from Bruno Almeida.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ibrahim Diaby on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
7 goals in one match, Williams Ipéhé on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AS Korofina and FC Diarra.
Marked 9.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 3‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS Korofina lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Korofina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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.
Marked 6.88 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ibrahim Diaby on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Korofina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AS Korofina, another week without a signature from Bruno Almeida.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Korofina lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aymerick Nedelec will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Korofina the goodbyes have quietly begun.
AS Korofina have gone to Djoliba with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Djoliba have kept their man, and AS Korofina go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Almeida 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.
AS Korofina have made the call to Afrique Foot Elite. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Korofina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malick Djiguiba 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.
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 1‑2 Ibrahim Diaby left the room before anybody could ask which.
Chinedu Ozor 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.
Nobody at AS Korofina 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AS Korofina told Gibril Asrih something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Cheick Sacko, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where AS Korofina would like this to lead.
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Korofina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Almeida 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.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ibrahim Diaby could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joël Bakanda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 AS Korofina, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Almeida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every AS Korofina game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FC Diarra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS Korofina can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Cheick Sacko did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Dramane Traoré’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS Korofina.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at AS Korofina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malick Djiguiba 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.
At 19 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. US Forces Armees tried to reorganise, AS Korofina did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Malick Djiguiba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ibrahim Diaby after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Afrique Foot Elite? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at AS Korofina is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Korofina, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Williams Ipéhé signs something — a contract at AS Korofina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Malick Djiguiba did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Malick Djiguiba 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cheick Sacko. 1‑0 against Onze Createurs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Alexis Ortega 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.
Nobody at AS Korofina 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS Korofina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Cheick Sacko 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Etoiles du Mande were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mamadou Maiga 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lassana Diarra 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Djigui Diaby 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Boubacar Diarra 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.