The CotonTchad Chronicle
Squad11 Oct 2027
Gérard Diarra damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at CotonTchad
Hamza Asrir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Youssef El Omari signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef El Omari and CotonTchad agree another 1 years.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at CotonTchad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Hamami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Oct 2027
Brahim Tokindang steps up from the CotonTchad academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Brahim Tokindang 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
One of our own: Brahim Hissein joins the CotonTchad first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brahim Hissein is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Oct 2027
Ali Ndoram steps up from the CotonTchad academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Ndoram 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
When it matters, Abdallah Boukhanfer plays
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 dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Mouctar Kodji
“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.
In brief
- The dugout Hamza Asrir asks for a word with the manager
- Market The Hamza Asrir story refuses to die
- Looking ahead Looking ahead: the trip to US Moursal