The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier
Match12 Jun 2027
A 2-goal lead gone for El-Kanemi Warriors
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Kwara United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and El-Kanemi Warriors will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Market14 Jun 2027
Sama'ila Bello 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 El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jun 2027
El-Kanemi Warriors say no — this time
The offer from Abia Warriors for Usman Abubakar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bakura Jibrin keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” El-Kanemi Warriors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Tempers go at El-Kanemi Warriors
Risilanu Ismail 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Ismail Mukhtar
12 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Rodrigo 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 terraces14 Jun 2027
El-Kanemi Warriors supporters have found a favourite in Ismail Mukhtar
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ismail Mukhtar has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Ninety minutes of Sama'ila Bello at his very best
Marked 8.76. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at El-Kanemi Warriors.
In brief
- Player ratings One of those days for Ismail Mukhtar
- Match El-Kanemi Warriors and Kwara United take a point apiece
- Player ratings Risilanu Ismail could have had three