“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 The request is on a desk at US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sbonelo Ngcobo 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. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees 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.
Tommy McCowatt is 17, and US Forces Armees have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Farouk Musisi and US Forces Armees agree another 1 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 30 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aboubacar Sidibé and US Forces Armees agree another 4 years.
Mohamed Naâmani 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Bernard Ovoke has improved at 31, 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aboubacar Sidibé is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The deal that would have taken Ekebuike James to US Bougouba has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to US Forces Armees with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Bernard Ovoke 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. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. US Forces Armees will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
At 24 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.
The offer from Binga for Ebuka Ogbonna 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 US Forces Armees training over how hard people work
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bongani Cele will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around US Forces Armees the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohamed Naâmani 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 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.” US Forces Armees have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. US Forces Armees will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Forces Armees can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Salah Ashour is living that version at US Forces Armees, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is 20, and nobody at US Forces Armees signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be 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 US Forces Armees can pretend not to have heard.
Tiémoko Berthé 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 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 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 offer from AS Korofina for Ekebuike James 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 20, he is averaging 7.27, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Tiémoko Berthé 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 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: AS Korofina have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ekebuike James. The answer from US Forces Armees has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
Tiémoko Berthé 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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aboubacar Sidibé and US Forces Armees agree another 4 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Naâmani and US Forces Armees agree another 2 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at US Forces Armees training over how hard people work
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” US Forces Armees have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tiémoko Berthé 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. 36 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
A season average of 7.27 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. US Forces Armees know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Tiémoko Berthé 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. 50 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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. 57 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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees 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. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A season average of 7.27 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. US Forces Armees know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Tiémoko Berthé 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. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Stade Malien the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that US Forces Armees will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Tiémoko Berthé, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.05
A mark of 9.05 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiémoko Berthé did not need any: 7.75, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tidiane Traoré and US Forces Armees agree another 2 years.
Tiémoko Berthé 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 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. Tiémoko Berthé 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. AS Korofina defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Marked 5.69. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Tiémoko Berthé, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Aboubacar Sidibé will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at US Forces Armees escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.17, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. US Forces Armees found something the first half had given no notice of, and AS Police could not hold what they had.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiémoko Berthé did not need any: 9.24, 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 8.78 — 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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiémoko Berthé did not need any: 9.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at US Forces Armees has to find a result from somewhere.
Mohamed Naâmani 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 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. Tiémoko Berthé has come out of that comparison in the side, and US Forces Armees have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Bernard Ovoke 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. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiémoko Berthé did not need any: 8.06, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. US Forces Armees know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 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.
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
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.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Issa Tounkara, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and US Forces Armees have had the benefit of it.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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. Mohamed Naâmani 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.
“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 US Forces Armees, 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Tiémoko Berthé, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tshiamo Chiloane and US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 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.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two goals and a mark of 9.88 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.” US Forces Armees may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Issa Tounkara, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 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.
Mohamed Naâmani 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiémoko Berthé did not need any: 9.25, 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 US Forces Armees can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
Etoiles du Mande go through and US Forces Armees go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiémoko Berthé did not need any: 9.14, 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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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.
Marked 9.18 — 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 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 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.
“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 US Forces Armees, 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Issa Tounkara, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 9.30
A mark of 9.30 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.
Mohamed Naâmani 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 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
17 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at US Forces Armees has to find a result from somewhere.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. US Forces Armees will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at US Forces Armees has to find a result from somewhere.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Naâmani and US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Ebuka Ogbonna has improved at 29, 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.
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.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 37 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. Tiémoko Berthé is 19, 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
In brief
SquadWords at US Forces Armees training over how hard people work
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.
Mohamed Naâmani 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Constant Sanga has improved at 25, 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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
Ronwen Kekana is 18, and US Forces Armees have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kamogelo Malefo is 23, 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 35 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. Aboubacar Sidibé 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.
Dane Just is 17, and US Forces Armees have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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.
Mohamed Naâmani 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
Tidiane Traoré 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Bernard Ovoke has improved at 30, 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gilang Ardha has just signed for US Forces Armees, and for once the answer mattered.
Marat Taykenov is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees 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. Aboubacar Sidibé is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mohamed Naâmani 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 25 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.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and US Forces Armees have gone and got theirs early.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. US Forces Armees know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mamadou Maguiraga 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 US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Naâmani 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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Bernard Ovoke 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
SquadMohamed Naâmani falls out with a teammate over standards
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. US Forces Armees lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bongani Cele 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 season-long look at somebody else’s player: Bonga Mkhize arrives from Binga with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Forces Armees can pretend not to have heard.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at US Forces Armees training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mohamed Naâmani 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. Cole Alexander 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 US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Sbonelo Ngcobo 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 US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason US Forces Armees will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 US Forces Armees training over how hard people work
Mohamed Naâmani 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 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.
Djoliba go through and US Forces Armees go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 US Forces Armees 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cole Alexander 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what US Forces Armees can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aboubacar Sidibé did not need any: 8.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at US Forces Armees pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It needed Aboubacar Sidibé to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against US Bougouni, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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 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.
6 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.
Cole Alexander 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Naâmani 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.
“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 US Forces Armees, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and US Forces Armees know 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Sidibé 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 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces22 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.” 6 of the 21 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
Mohamed Naâmani 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bourama Togola 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at US Forces Armees pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Naâmani 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ibrahim Halliru is 20, and US Forces Armees have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bourama Togola has come out of that comparison in the side, and US Forces Armees have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees 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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. US Forces Armees know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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.
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: Aboubacar Sidibé from Djoliba for $420.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
SquadSadiq Ali falls out with a teammate over standards
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at US Forces Armees has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bourama Togola 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.
He is 20, and nobody at US Forces Armees signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The offer from Binga for Moussa Diallo 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.
6 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.
Mohamed Naâmani 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at US Forces Armees, another week without a signature from Sadiq Ali.
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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Tiéoule Sissoko has come up in conversations US Forces Armees were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bourama Togola is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Naâmani 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ebuka Ogbonna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. US Forces Armees have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Nobody at US Forces Armees 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Sbonelo Ngcobo 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. US Forces Armees told Mamadou Maguiraga something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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 US Forces Armees 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.
In brief
SquadBongani Cele has become a man the manager trusts
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” US Forces Armees 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 US Forces Armees 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at US Forces Armees, another week without a signature from Ebuka Ogbonna.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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. Mohamed Naâmani 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bernard Ovoke. 1‑0 against Binga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at US Forces Armees this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about US Forces Armees and AS Police in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Naâmani 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 8.62 — 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.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ayanda Bophela provided it, and the 9.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 20 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Bourama Togola 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.
Marked 9.05 — 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at US Forces Armees, another week without a signature from Bernard Ovoke.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bourama Togola has come out of that comparison in the side, and US Forces Armees have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it 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 US Forces Armees 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. Kamogelo Malefo 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sbonelo Ngcobo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ebuka Ogbonna 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bernard Ovoke has improved at 29, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cole Alexander 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ayanda Vete. 2‑1 against Onze Createurs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ayanda Vete was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.84. 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.