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Pentagon Challenge - Season 4 (2026/27)

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Season 2026/27 - CS Constantine - Algerian Ligue 1 The season preview has us down as 4th favourites to win the league. Pre-season was mostly very good, with one draw amongst a series of wins.  We were drawn against Génération Foot from Senegal in the Preliminary round of the CAF Champions League, which we ended up with a relatively comfortable 6-2 aggregate win after winning the home leg 4-0, although we didn't look so impressive in the away leg. We were then drawn against Mamelodi Sundowns for the First Round and as they've been the dominant force in South Africa for over 10 years, I expected that to be the end of our run.  However, we scored a shock 5-1 win at home, and followed up with a 2-1 in South Africa to win the tie quite comfortably. After this, it goes to the group stage which has seen us drawn in a group which looks very tough, with Kaizer Chiefs from South Africa, Red Arrows from Zambia and Al-Ahly who have dominated Egypt, which is the highest reputation league i...
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Pentagon Challenge - Season 3 (2025/26) - Part 2

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 Season 2025/26 - CS Constantine - Algerian Ligue 1 There were no league games in January due to the AFCON, so we just played a bunch of friendlies to keep match sharpness up,  Worryingly, we lost to our own U21s team in one of them, and it wasn't even like it was a fluke result as the performance was poor to go alongside it.  Thankfully, it didn't seem to impact squad morale in any way. February 2026 February went well until the end.  2 league games won and progressing in the cup.  However, we ended with a surprising loss to struggling MC El Bayadh who took the lead in the 7th minute and although we dominated the rest of the game, we just weren't able to find the breakthrough,  Their goalkeeper won the Player of the Match award, which indicates that he was kept busy, but was on excellent form annoyingly! March 2026 An excellent month, where every match was a well deserved win.  We also progressed to the semi final of the cup, and ended the month with ...
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Pentagon Challenge - Season 3 (2025/26) - Part 1

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  Season 2025/26 - CS Constantine - Algerian Ligue 1 So, as the pre-season was underway, we are predicted to finish 5th.  US Biskra are also expected to avoid relegation, and I do hope they manage it. When at my interview, I did say I'd like to take my next coaching badge (I did manage to get my National C last season but forgot to mention it in the previous posts), however the Chairman said  he didn't think it would be necessary.  Regardless, I thought I'd ask again once I was actually in the hotseat. To my surprise, they actually agreed. Pre-season results were very much a mixed bag: It turned out we were in a Continental competition, the CAF Confederation Cup.  I think that may be the African equivalent of the Europa League, but I'm not completely sure on that.  However, it doesn't really matter too much as Zambian side Zesco United beat us 3-2 over the two leg Preliminary Round.  We'd looked decent in the first leg, but in the away leg we were all ...
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2025/26 (season 3) - Pre-season mini-update

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  2025/26 (season 3) - Pre-season mini-update So, after securing promotion my mindset was that most of the players going out of contract would be released.  Most of them wouldn't be good enough, and the one that probably was Sid Ahmed Aouedj, who had been our first choice left winger last season.  He'd been a signing made by our DoF last summer, and he'd been a very useful player when fit.  However, at 33 years old, his ability had declined over the course of the season, plus he had proven to be fairly prone to injury.  Plus, what I hadn't realised before I rubber-stamped the signing was that he was by far the highest paid player at the club at well over £2k per week (bear in mind, we were semi-pro), and I was not going to be able to justify that kind of wage on one player, especially one who was clearly on the decline. On 30th June, the following news item came through: This was obviously going to allow us to offer better contracts and be a more attractive opti...
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Pentagon Challenge - Season 2 (2024/25) - Part 2.

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  Season 2024/25 - US Biskra - Algerian League 2 West (part 2) January 2024 We manage a perfect month, not even conceding a single goal and scoring almost at well with several big wins to keep the heat on CR Témouchent. February 2025 Another perfect month, with two wins from two games.  But, most importantly, a win over CR Témouchent to bring us level with them on points, but ahead on goal difference. March 2025 Frustratingly, we follow up the big win last month with a draw, but win the other league game, with a fitness/morale friendly played in between the two league games due to us getting to a part of the season where we're only playing every 2 weeks. April 2025 Another 2 game month, another 2 wins.  We're now clear at the top of the table thanks to CR Témouchent losing another game this month.  The title is very much in our hands at this point. May 2025 Winning the first game of this month put us in a commanding position, however the 2 draws had the potential to ...
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