26 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑3 to CR Belouizdad, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamel Chergui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
25 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 Badjo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamel Chergui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
16 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
24 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Réda Boumechra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samir Aïboud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamel Chergui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Khenchela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Serge Badjo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamel Chergui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
0‑1 to MB Rouissat, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Bilal Zeffane left the room before anybody could ask which.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
JS Saoura next, and one man in the USM Khenchela dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
21 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 Badjo 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
Nobody at USM Khenchela is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at USM Khenchela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamel Chergui 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.
CS Constantine left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Bilal Zeffane to a room that had heard them before.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Rafik Touba
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rafik Touba has come out of that comparison in the side, and USM Khenchela have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
19 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.
Position 16 and 1 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.
Abdeljalil Saâd 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 Oct 2028
Words at USM Khenchela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamel Chergui 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 1‑1 draw with MC Alger leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bilal Zeffane was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the USM Khenchela dressing room was either.
18 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdelkader Morcely will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Khenchela the goodbyes have quietly begun.
0‑1 to ES Setif, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Samir Aïboud falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at USM Khenchela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamel Chergui 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: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Bilal Zeffane to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Kamel Chergui
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
CR Belouizdad go through and USM Khenchela 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between USM Khenchela and Paradou, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Paradou left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at USM Khenchela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamel Chergui 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.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. USM Khenchela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Réda Boumechra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Khenchela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at USM Khenchela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamel Chergui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Khenchela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Abdeljalil Saâd and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Kamel Chergui falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at USM Khenchela can tell you which week it ends in.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Abdeljalil Saâd 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.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. USM Khenchela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Mohamed Ghoulam recited it perfectly.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at USM Khenchela until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Everything agreed with CS Constantine, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Francisco Morais is a USM Khenchela player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abdelkader Morcely will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdelhamid Dris and USM Khenchela agree another 3 years.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
CS Constantine have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Guemroud trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Youcef Douar 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samir Aïboud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to Paradou: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Karim Belmadi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ali Ehab is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MB Rouissat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at USM Khenchela is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mokhtar Ferrahi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Khenchela the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Position 16 and 16 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Serge Badjo 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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdel Ali Hamadi and USM Khenchela agree another 4 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
USM Khenchela have made the call to MC Alger. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. USM Khenchela have done the hard part with CS Constantine, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
USM Khenchela have made the call to Paradou. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. USM Khenchela have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
USM Khenchela have made the call to JS Saoura. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Rafik Touba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
USM Khenchela have made the call to USM Alger. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Everyone has stopped pretending: MB Rouissat will make the call about Mokhtar Ferrahi this week. USM Khenchela have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 16 and 16 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: MC Alger keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Réda Boumechra 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 will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Serge Badjo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adel Mandi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Serge Badjo has moved up it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around USM Khenchela people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A loan enquiry to USM Alger: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Karim Belmadi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Guemroud trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Oussama Litim has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at USM Khenchela
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
USM Khenchela asked and ASO Chlef said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mohamed Amine Ezzemani 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. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 16 and 16 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: BA All Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Réda Boumechra 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Military Production have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdel Ali Hamadi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adel Mandi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
BA All Stars have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
He is 18, and nobody at USM Khenchela signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Karim Belmadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Karim Belmadi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Oussama Litim
SquadMohamed Refat is training like a man with a point to make
He is 21, he is averaging 7.06, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Réda Boumechra 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at USM Khenchela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” USM Khenchela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oussama Litim and USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Mohamed Refat's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mokhtar Ferrahi is on it.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at USM Khenchela says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Mohamed Refat is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at USM Khenchela says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
“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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at USM Khenchela would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
BoardroomThe USM Khenchela production line keeps running
91Edition
The USM Khenchela Herald
24 Apr 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at USM Khenchela
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
Mohamed Amine Ezzemani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Abdel Ali Hamadi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdelkader Morcely is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAmr Shaaban knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mokhtar Ferrahi is on it.
Imadeddine Boubekeur has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Réda Boumechra plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adel Mandi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Something was said to Serge Badjo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Karim Belmadi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
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.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 16 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Position 16 and 16 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.
8 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. USM Khenchela will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Réda Boumechra 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.71 on the card, and the USM Khenchela support went home talking about one name.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Oussama Litim
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mohamed Refat did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Adel Mandi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Youcef Douar's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adel Mandi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at USM Khenchela has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Mohamed Refat, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.81
A mark of 7.81 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youcef Douar and USM Khenchela agree another 3 years.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Oussama Litim will call it something else in private.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at USM Khenchela
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.68 for the rest of it.
Mohamed Amine Ezzemani 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. USM Khenchela know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. CS Constantine kept coming because nothing stopped them, and USM Khenchela will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. USM Khenchela know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela can tell you which week it ends in.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at USM Khenchela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The clubs have shaken hands with USM Alger; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at USM Khenchela who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
USM Khenchela asked and USM Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Position 16 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.
“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 USM Khenchela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paulo Balbúrdia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Khenchela the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique Akbou have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mohamed Amine Ezzemani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
52 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.
“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 USM Khenchela, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. USM Khenchela have done the hard part with JS Kabylie, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
USM Khenchela asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
MC Oran held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. USM Khenchela answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mohamed Refat did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
50 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces3 Jan 2028
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adel Mandi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
17 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adel Mandi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The run now stands at 48, and the questions being asked around USM Khenchela are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Mohamed Refat, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 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 whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Réda Boumechra 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adel Mandi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Ahmida Zenasni and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
JS Kabylie next, and one man in the USM Khenchela dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutAymen Bendaoud asks for a word with the manager
Player ratingsJoseph Kemin beats them one at a time
0‑4 to USM Alger, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Half the programme played, position 16, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 USM Khenchela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
ASO Chlef left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Adel Mandi left the room before anybody could ask which.
45 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.
Position 15 and 6 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” USM Khenchela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
15 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Refat knocks on the manager's door
SquadA USM Khenchela teenager takes the young player award
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joseph Kemin did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Réda Boumechra 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. MB Rouissat had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zin Eddine Meddour and USM Khenchela agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adel Mandi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
SquadJoseph Kemin is the weekend's best young player
Karim Belmadi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
42 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
CS Constantine left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Adel Mandi to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Oussama Litim exposed
7.81, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paulo Balbúrdia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adel Mandi after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Réda Boumechra 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Adel Mandi to a room that had heard them before.
MC Alger next, and one man in the USM Khenchela dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
A mark of 7.64, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adel Mandi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
In brief
SquadJoseph Kemin, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
The run now stands at 38, and the questions being asked around USM Khenchela are no longer polite ones.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joseph Kemin did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christopher Samangwa and USM Khenchela agree another 3 years.
36 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paulo Balbúrdia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around USM Khenchela the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oussama Litim and USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at USM Khenchela has been clear about where Christopher Samangwa stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmida Zenasni, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adel Mandi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Looking aheadUSM Khenchela take on the side everybody is chasing
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mohamed Guemroud
SquadMohamed Refat, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
35 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Adel Mandi to a room that had heard them before.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hillal Mrezigue and USM Khenchela agree another 3 years.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Karim Belmadi 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Two goals and a mark of 8.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” USM Khenchela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between USM Khenchela and Olympique Akbou, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Réda Boumechra 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Refat is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.79 — 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at USM Khenchela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: WAFA keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Ammar Oukil 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Ahly keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Réda Boumechra 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.
USM Khenchela asked and Hasaacas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
USM Khenchela have made the call to Smouha. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
The deal with Rivers United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bayelsa United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Réda Boumechra 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutSéga Sanogo asks for a word with the manager
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Liberty Professionals is saying, and nobody at USM Khenchela is enjoying the guessing.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Serge Badjo has improved at 24, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around USM Khenchela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal with WAFA is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Paulo Balbúrdia has agreed terms with Olympique Akbou for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
A loan enquiry to Liberty Professionals: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hasaacas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdelhamid Dris and USM Khenchela agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
USM Khenchela asked and Stade Malien said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
USM Khenchela have made the call to WAFA. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Mohamed Refat was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahly have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
USM Khenchela have made the call to Zamalek. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
USM Khenchela have made the call to Hasaacas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mokhtar Ferrahi has written the date down.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bayelsa United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hearts of Oak have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Katsina United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
USM Khenchela had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Remo Stars, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at USM Khenchela says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
In brief
The dugoutFaik Amrane knocks on the manager’s door
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at USM Khenchela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Everything agreed with Remo Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Réda Boumechra 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.
Olympique Akbou wanted more than $160.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Arab Contractors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
USM Khenchela have gone to Olympique Akbou with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$320.0K was the most the club would pay and Paradou were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
USM Khenchela have made the call to Remo Stars. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. USM Khenchela will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdelkader Morcely is on it.
A new face in his position, and Luka Ngwei suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. USM Khenchela have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. USM Khenchela have done the hard part with Barau, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$43.0K on the table at Paradou. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdelkader Morcely has written the date down.
Position 16 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
USM Khenchela have gone to CS Constantine with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$100.0K on the table at JS Kabylie. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at USM Khenchela says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at USM Khenchela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Paradou this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer went to Olympique Akbou this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Réda Boumechra 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MB Rouissat have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mehdi Boucherit has moved up it.
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.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmida Zenasni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at USM Khenchela
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 16 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Badreddine Souyad has written the date down.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mohamed Amine Ezzemani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at USM Khenchela says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at USM Khenchela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 USM Khenchela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oussama Bouguerri 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Oussama Litim is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at USM Khenchela 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.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at USM Khenchela says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason USM Khenchela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mokhtar Ferrahi has written the date down.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ayobami Junior’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. USM Khenchela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mokhtar Ferrahi has written the date down.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ali Ehab is on it.
Oussama Litim has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at USM Khenchela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adel Mandi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
Réda Boumechra 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.
Something was said to Luka Ngwei and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdelkader Morcely is on it.
31 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at USM Khenchela has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at USM Khenchela has turned into something else
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at USM Khenchela
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 13 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Luka Ngwei, 21, 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 21-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 USM Khenchela 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 USM Khenchela can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against USM Alger.
29 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.
Oussama Bouguerri 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 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at USM Khenchela pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Adel Mandi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the USM Khenchela dressing room was either.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ahmida Zenasni’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and USM Khenchela needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at USM Khenchela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Ahmida Zenasni
Player ratingsHassan Saber beats them one at a time
28 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at USM Khenchela can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oussama Litim and USM Khenchela agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Réda Boumechra 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Oussama Bouguerri has come out of that comparison in the side, and USM Khenchela have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Khenchela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at USM Khenchela
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hassan Saber did not need any: 7.82, 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 USM Khenchela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Khenchela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 16 and 9 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.
25 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Khenchela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Réda Boumechra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Zayed Abdulraheem has just signed for USM Khenchela, and for once the answer mattered.
USM Khenchela asked and CS Constantine said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Adel Mandi left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and USM Khenchela are still learning each other
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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 USM Khenchela, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Great Olympics keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ASO Chlef have kept their man, and USM Khenchela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mohamed Amine Ezzemani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Luka Ngwei arrives from Nasarawa United with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. USM Khenchela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela 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.” USM Khenchela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at USM Khenchela is running low.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Hassan Saber, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
USM Khenchela close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal with Great Olympics is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. USM Khenchela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what USM Khenchela can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Remo Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.