Marked for Brian Opondo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Aug 2026
Tusker march on in the cup
Mathare United are out and Tusker go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Tusker did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Aug 2026
Vincent Owino hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Joseph Kemin, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.57
A mark of 8.57 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Tusker sell a favourite for $56.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Edwin Simiyu was one of the reasons people came, and $56.0K does not replace that by itself.
Match29 Aug 2026
Still nobody has beaten Tusker
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Dennis Oalo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Business is business: Edwin Simiyu goes
AFC Leopards paid $56.0K and Tusker took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Cliff Oruko
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Joseph Okoth decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match19 Aug 2026
Tusker through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over APS Bomet, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Tusker's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Tusker has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Tusker
Brian Opondo 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chris Erambo, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yakeen Muthelil 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Thomas Omole misses from twelve yards
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brian Opondo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vincent Owino, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Thomas Omole has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tusker.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brian Opondo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Tusker know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tusker, another week without a signature from Dennis Oalo.
Market10 Aug 2026
Eugene Ikutwa is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tusker has been clear about where Eugene Ikutwa stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Point won or two lost for Tusker?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bidco United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eric Kapaito and Tusker agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Tusker
Brian Opondo 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Eric Kapaito’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tusker.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Eric Kapaito finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Tusker have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alex Onchwari has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tusker.