Marked for Solomon Nsoh
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Aug 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and New Edubiase United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at WAFA is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market26 Aug 2030
Nana Asamoah has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around WAFA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Christian Baba is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Solomon Nsoh 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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Inusah 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.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
WAFA asked and Hearts of Oak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Aug 2030
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Abeiku Wakaso
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. WAFA will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets26 Aug 2030
Hearts of Oak 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.
The dugout26 Aug 2030
Kamaldeen Baba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at WAFA 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Walid Fuseini out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 Jul 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around WAFA people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market29 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at WAFA is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Kwadwo Afful 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Baba Inusah 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.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
Ashanti Gold 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.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
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.
Market29 Jul 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Solomon Nsoh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Walid Fuseini out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at WAFA is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market15 Jul 2030
WAFA say no — this time
The offer from Bechem United for Gladson Wakaso 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Solomon Nsoh and WAFA agree another 4 years.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at WAFA
Kwadwo Afful 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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Inusah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market15 Jul 2030
The phone has started ringing about Nana Asamoah again, and this time the name on the line is Bechem United. WAFA are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Bukari, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jul 2030
Walid Fuseini breaks a bone — 57 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. WAFA have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad1 Jul 2030
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. WAFA had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market1 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at WAFA is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Kwadwo Afful 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hearts of Oak have kept their man, and WAFA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
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 Kamaldeen Baba is on it.
Market1 Jul 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Solomon Nsoh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad1 Jul 2030
A season on the outside for Daniel Gyan
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at WAFA has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Kamaldeen Baba
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at WAFA
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jun 2030
86 days out for Walid Fuseini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Inusah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Jun 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. WAFA have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Baba Boakye and WAFA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jun 2030
A falling-out at WAFA
Jayson Nettey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
A loan enquiry to Hearts of Oak: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
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 Kamaldeen Baba is on it.
Market3 Jun 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at WAFA, another week without a signature from Abdul-Aziz Adam.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdul-Aziz Adam trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 May 2030
Walid Fuseini breaks a bone — 116 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yaw Atiemo commits to WAFA for another 2 years.
Squad6 May 2030
Tempers go at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba 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.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Inusah 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.
The dugout6 May 2030
Kamaldeen Baba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at WAFA 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.
Market6 May 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at WAFA, another week without a signature from Ernest Addo.
The dugout6 May 2030
Ernest Addo knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ernest Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market6 May 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Solomon Nsoh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout6 May 2030
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 Abdul-Aziz Adam has written the date down.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Joseph Amoah
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Match
Mid-table, and WAFA know it
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Boardroom
WAFA board back the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Apr 2030
A fracture rules Walid Fuseini out for 124 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market29 Apr 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at WAFA is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
Ramzy Yussif gets picked when it counts
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 Ramzy Yussif is on it.
Market29 Apr 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kamaldeen Baba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Apr 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kamaldeen Baba and WAFA agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Kwadwo Afful 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Francis Annan named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Francis Annan is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
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.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
“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.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
Abdul-Aziz Adam asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market8 Apr 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Solomon Nsoh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market8 Apr 2030
WAFA and Afriyie Ayew are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Afriyie Ayew: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one WAFA will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
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The dugout
Kamaldeen Baba keeps his manager's vote
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Match
A season winding down at WAFA
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Boardroom
WAFA board back the manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Mar 2030
The season ends: position 8 for WAFA
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 43 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad25 Mar 2030
16 goals and a season average of 7.46. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Boardroom25 Mar 2030
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Match23 Mar 2030
Whatever happens, WAFA do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad25 Mar 2030
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Inusah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Tempers go at WAFA
Ramzy Yussif 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.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings25 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Mar 2030
Tempers go at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Inusah 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
Heart of Lions made WAFA work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces11 Mar 2030
WAFA supporters have found a favourite in Baba Acquah
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Baba Acquah 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 ratings11 Mar 2030
Ramzy Yussif was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings11 Mar 2030
Solomon Nsoh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Asamoah commits to WAFA for another 3 years.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Felix Asante kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
Kamaldeen Baba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at WAFA 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout4 Mar 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Mar 2030
15 goals and a season average of 7.46. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market4 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Jayson Nettey
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jayson Nettey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around WAFA the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Mar 2030
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Inusah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at WAFA
Francis Annan 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Francis Annan named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Francis Annan is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
A promise honoured at WAFA
Something was said to Abdul-Aziz Adam and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
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.” Felix Asante chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Feb 2030
No mercy from WAFA
New Edubiase United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. WAFA were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad25 Feb 2030
22 goals and a season average of 7.46. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Daniel Asamoah, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 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.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Baba Inusah, 34, rolls back the years — 8.52
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
“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.
Match23 Feb 2030
WAFA make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now WAFA have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words exchanged at WAFA
Kwadwo Afful 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jan 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around WAFA people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad21 Jan 2030
A falling-out at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Solomon Nsoh beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Jan 2030
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Inusah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Jan 2030
9 goals and a season average of 7.37. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match19 Jan 2030
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
Walid Fuseini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at WAFA 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 dugout21 Jan 2030
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A falling-out at WAFA
Kwadwo Afful and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ashanti Gold have kept their man, and WAFA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Jan 2030
1‑2 to Wa All Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Jan 2030
8 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Samuel Nuhu reaches 100 appearances
100 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.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
The manager makes an example of Ernest Addo
“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.
Player ratings14 Jan 2030
Solomon Nsoh beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Baba Inusah and WAFA agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2029
13 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match1 Dec 2029
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Solomon Nsoh beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match1 Dec 2029
A 3‑3 draw with Hasaacas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The WAFA board find $2.1M for the manager
Money, not words, and it is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending $2.1M well is entirely his problem now.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Samuel Nuhu
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Samuel Nuhu has come out of that comparison in the side, and WAFA have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Baba Inusah 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A falling-out at WAFA
Francis Annan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Albert Essien
“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 dugout26 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
4 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match24 Nov 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Heart of Lions came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
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.
Looking ahead26 Nov 2029
Hasaacas next, and one man in the WAFA dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Age has not caught Baba Inusah yet — 8.63
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.63 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Kwadwo Afful 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Nov 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Baba Inusah’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to WAFA.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Baba Inusah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.20 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lawrence Osei 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
Upbeat
Match3 Nov 2029
3‑0, and Baba Inusah took the headlines on an afternoon when everything WAFA tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad5 Nov 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Baba Inusah, 33, rolls back the years — 9.70
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.70 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Inusah 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at WAFA
Ramzy Yussif 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.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Ninety minutes of Solomon Nsoh at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at WAFA.
Squad5 Nov 2029
25 games in 91 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Daniel Gyan: 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.” WAFA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match27 Oct 2029
After 8 games, WAFA finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Bechem United; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A falling-out at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Oct 2029
Solomon Nsoh among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Solomon Nsoh on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of WAFA and Bechem United.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Baba Inusah 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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Marked 8.33 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Sep 2029
5‑0, and Baba Inusah took the headlines on an afternoon when everything WAFA tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
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Match15 Sep 2029
At last: WAFA win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against BA All Stars. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Baba Inusah 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A falling-out at WAFA
Ramzy Yussif and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Sep 2029
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Baba Inusah in the middle of it, and BA All Stars unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes of Kamaldeen Baba at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at WAFA.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes of Ramzy Yussif at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at WAFA.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Jul 2029
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Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. WAFA have done the hard part with Asante Kotoko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 20 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Solomon Nsoh and WAFA agree another 3 years.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Tempers go at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baba Inusah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market23 Jul 2029
The name of Lawrence Osei has come up in conversations WAFA were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Daniel Asamoah
“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 dugout23 Jul 2029
Francis Annan knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at WAFA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
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The dugout
A door opens for Jayson Nettey
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Boardroom
WAFA keep producing them
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Match
Nothing left to play for but pride at WAFA
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jun 2029
Lawrence Osei 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The deal with Asante Kotoko 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Tempers go at WAFA
Kwadwo Afful 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaw Asamoah, and the manager let it.
Market18 Jun 2029
Inter Allies are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. WAFA will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one WAFA will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager makes Jayson Nettey a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at WAFA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
Thomas Schlupp asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market18 Jun 2029
Edmund Annan’s agent stirs the pot again
“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Edmund Annan’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Feb 2029
37 days out for Walid Fuseini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
The match ball belongs to Baba Inusah, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Age has not caught Baba Inusah yet — 9.76
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market26 Feb 2029
David Owusu has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around WAFA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” WAFA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match24 Feb 2029
Nobody wants to play WAFA right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Baba Inusah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.24 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Tempers go at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba 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.
Match24 Feb 2029
New Edubiase United made WAFA work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Feb 2029
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market12 Feb 2029
David Owusu 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Baba Inusah, 33, rolls back the years — 8.07
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Feb 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Baba Inusah’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to WAFA.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Felix Asante could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jan 2029
Walid Fuseini breaks a bone — 51 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” WAFA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Jan 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and WAFA have had the benefit of it.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match30 Dec 2028
5 matches without a win for WAFA
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around WAFA are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Kwadwo Afful 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
12 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 42. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad27 Nov 2028
20 days out for Gladson Boakye after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match25 Nov 2028
Still nobody has beaten WAFA
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kwadwo Afful was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match25 Nov 2028
Three points for WAFA, 2‑1 the final word against Heart of Lions in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Ramzy Yussif 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
WAFA supporters have found a favourite in Solomon Nsoh
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Solomon Nsoh 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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Nana Appiah gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
27 days out for Gladson Boakye after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
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Market20 Nov 2028
David Owusu has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around WAFA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match18 Nov 2028
7 unbeaten for WAFA
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation WAFA did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.94, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A falling-out at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
43 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match18 Nov 2028
Berekum Chelsea made WAFA work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Nov 2028
A 2-goal lead gone for WAFA
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. New Edubiase United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and WAFA will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Nov 2028
Yaw Sulemana has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around WAFA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad13 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Nov 2028
Whatever happens, WAFA do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwadwo Afful 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.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Samuel Nuhu gets it from the manager
“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 ratings13 Nov 2028
Kamaldeen Baba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 51. 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A fracture rules Gladson Boakye out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Baba Mensah: 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.” WAFA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Tempers go at WAFA
Kamaldeen Baba 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Kwadwo Afful 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.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
A promise honoured at WAFA
Something was said to Solomon Nsoh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Samuel Nuhu named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Samuel Nuhu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match4 Nov 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Oct 2028
No mercy from WAFA
Bechem United will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. WAFA were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A fracture rules Gladson Boakye out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A brace, and Kamaldeen Baba takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kamaldeen Baba provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A falling-out at WAFA
Kwadwo Afful and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces30 Oct 2028
He is 23 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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
A promise honoured at WAFA
Something was said to Abdul-Aziz Adam and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 18. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.