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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Stéphane Bekolo: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Raphael Tchaptchet will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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 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.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Unisport Bafang is running low.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tony Ngani Kameni and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Jules Kebel wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Jules Kebel found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and PWD Bamenda went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Unisport Bafang pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Two goals and a mark of 7.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Achille Fokem and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
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.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Fobang 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.
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.
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.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
4 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.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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 Elie Junior Bamal.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Armel Djimmoe will call it something else in private.
Dieudonne Alex Essono Omgba had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Gazelle Garoua were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
A 1‑0 win over Fauve Azur Elite, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 had been thinking. Franck Tientcheu 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 name of Raphael Tchaptchet has come up in conversations Unisport Bafang were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
A mark of 7.64 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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 had been thinking. Franck Tientcheu 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 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.
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.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Unisport Bafang told Terence Ngankam something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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.
Position 12 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 had been thinking. Franck Tientcheu 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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Canon Yaounde? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 had been thinking. Franck Tientcheu 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.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
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.
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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Frederic Koloto 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 8.22 — 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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Serge Andoulo and Unisport Bafang agree another 2 years.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Frederic Koloto 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: Frederic Koloto. 1‑0 against Cotonsport Garoua, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Henri Claude Balla is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 had been thinking. Franck Tientcheu 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mpendulo Ntuli and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Aigle Royal de la Menoua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Fortuna Mfou kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Unisport Bafang will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Franck Tientcheu scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The name of Raphael Tchaptchet has come up in conversations Unisport Bafang were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jules Kebel 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Desire Mbeumo 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Georges Mbarga 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jacques Dawa 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Serge Andoulo has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sechaba Gaseitsiwe is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
In brief
SquadMpendulo Ntuli has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Panthere du Nde arrived with $110.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Armhel Yandeme was one of the reasons people came, and $110.0K does not replace that by itself.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franck Tientcheu 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 words a physio says slowly. 60 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 offer from Stade Renard de Melong for Raphael Tchaptchet was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Bebeto Tsafack from Cotonsport Garoua for $28.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Elie Junior Bamal and Unisport Bafang agree another 4 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
“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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
7 new faces, and Unisport Bafang are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Faiz Amem is living that version at Unisport Bafang, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $56.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. PWD Bamenda drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Nchanji Nfor from PWD Bamenda for $56.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unisport Bafang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unisport Bafang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unisport Bafang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacques Ekolowa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alphonse Tientcheu has his answer from Unisport Bafang; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unisport Bafang lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gilbert Ngaffa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
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.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 146 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kessel Willy Monkam has agreed terms with Stade Renard de Melong for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Armhel Yandeme will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gilbert Ngaffa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sosthene Mbouzikeu has agreed terms with Colombe du Dja et Lobo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ghislain Tchinda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
“I did not go to Cotonsport Garoua to sit and watch. I want to come back to Unisport Bafang and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Junior Rostand M'baï and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years.
Serge Andoulo 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Unisport Bafang training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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.
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 21 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marc Tsala Ndi. 1‑0 against Fauve Azur Elite, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every Unisport Bafang game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cotonsport Garoua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marc Tsala Ndi provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is going to Gazelle Garoua, the club has $78.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Marc Tsala Ndi did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Oliver Iriarte is living that version at Unisport Bafang, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Gazelle Garoua paid $78.0K and Unisport Bafang took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
At 21 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unisport Bafang have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unisport Bafang is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jacques Ekolowa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. German Fankam Tala has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Elie Junior Bamal and Unisport Bafang agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gilbert Ngaffa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unisport Bafang the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ghislain Tchinda has agreed terms with Victoria United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
4 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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Out, 0‑2 to Gazelle Garoua, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 11 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Serge Andoulo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Unisport Bafang scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kessel Willy Monkam did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Achille Fokem. 2‑1 against Fortuna Mfou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marc Tsala Ndi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Unisport Bafang have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 32 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Unisport Bafang and Fauve Azur Elite, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
8.27. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unisport Bafang will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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 needed Junior Rostand M'baï to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Canon Yaounde, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Frederic Koloto, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Frederic Koloto 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: Frederic Koloto. 1‑0 against Panthere du Nde, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Unisport Bafang will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Unisport Bafang can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
Fauve Azur Elite are out and Unisport Bafang go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at 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 Unisport Bafang this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Divane Tchameni is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Raphael Tchaptchet 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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Gazelle Garoua defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Serge Andoulo 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
8.22. 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.
It needed Junior Rostand M'baï to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cotonsport Garoua, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Frederic Koloto did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marc Tsala Ndi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
At 21 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Dynamo Douala held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Unisport Bafang answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.40, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Franck Tientcheu was the best thing in any of them.
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.
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.
8.18. 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
Junior Rostand M'baï 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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pierre Mbia 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. Samuel Aboubakar 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. Karl Dawa 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Unisport Bafang can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Marc Tsala Ndi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Unisport Bafang spend $150.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $150.0K for Stéphane Bekolo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The name of Becker Tcheuani has come up in conversations Unisport Bafang were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frédéric Banga 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Martin Laurice has his answer from Unisport Bafang; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mpendulo Ntuli and Unisport Bafang agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fredy Mbang has his answer from Unisport Bafang; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Unisport Bafang, another week without a signature from Armel Djimmoe.
Still no offer on the table, and Elie Junior Bamal’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Unisport Bafang would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Junior Rostand M'baï and Unisport Bafang agree another 2 years.
Serge Andoulo 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 had been thinking. Junior Rostand M'baï 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 doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Unisport Bafang will not keep him by pretending otherwise.