Marked for Elijah Mulinya
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2027
Elijah Mulinya: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sofapaka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sofapaka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match31 Jul 2027
4 matches without a win for Sofapaka
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sofapaka are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clifton Miheso 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.
Match31 Jul 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Nshimirimana, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A mark of 5.69 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elijah Mulinya
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sofapaka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 Jul 2027
Sofapaka throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Posta Rangers the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Sofapaka will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market12 Jul 2027
Levis Ochieng 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 Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Steven Lustica 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Clifton Miheso 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“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.
Match10 Jul 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Posta Rangers leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elijah Mulinya
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sofapaka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Sofapaka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market5 Jul 2027
Wasi Ngala has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sofapaka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Jul 2027
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clifton Miheso 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elijah Mulinya
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sofapaka lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market28 Jun 2027
Edwin Lutta 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 Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Victor Augo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sofapaka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sofapaka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Steven Lustica 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Clifton Miheso 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.
Match26 Jun 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
Wages eat 123% of everything Sofapaka earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.