Marked for Patrick Mensah
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Feb 2029
The wait goes on for WAFA
29 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match19 Feb 2029
Every point is an argument now for WAFA
Position 16 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Feb 2029
Inter Allies left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Dec 2028
The wait goes on for WAFA
22 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at WAFA
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Gonzalo Antoine: 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Tempers go at WAFA
Yaw Amankwa 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 ratings1 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.60, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Afriyie Partey
“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.
Match30 Dec 2028
A 1‑1 draw with BA All Stars leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at WAFA has been clear about where Gede Aditya Juliantara stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at WAFA would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2028
The wait goes on for WAFA
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Antoine, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Felix Paintsil 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 Felix Paintsil trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Match11 Nov 2028
Point won or two lost for WAFA?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against New Edubiase United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 12. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Oct 2028
“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 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for WAFA
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.78 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amos Sulemana commits to WAFA for another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdul-Aziz Nurudeen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2028
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.
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to WAFA's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at WAFA has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Patrick Mensah
“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 ratings11 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Macay Benbenisti commits to WAFA for another 3 years.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Sep 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Medeama will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Mohammed Appiah has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at WAFA can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match4 Mar 2028
3‑0, and Yaw Amankwa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything WAFA tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Tempers go at WAFA
Yaw Amankwa 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 ratings6 Mar 2028
Marked 8.47 — 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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Mensah, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francis Afful and WAFA agree another 3 years.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
WAFA pull $6.8M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amos Sulemana, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Baba Kyereh 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 Baba Kyereh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bernard Schlupp’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” WAFA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match13 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for WAFA
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad15 Nov 2027
64 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Match13 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Nov 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.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market15 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bernard Schlupp’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Marked 5.68, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Oct 2027
Cup progress for WAFA
A 1‑0 win over Wa All Stars, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Marked 8.92 — 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.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match9 Oct 2027
Three points for WAFA, 1‑0 the final word against Great Olympics in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Ziad Nemer 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 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Yaw Amankwa 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
WAFA get the job done against Medeama
A 1‑0 win over Medeama, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Afriyie Adjei and WAFA agree another 3 years.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Albert Nuhu 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 Albert Nuhu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Sep 2027
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 10, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
In brief
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Market
WAFA shop where it costs nothing
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Market
Daniel Bukari leaves for nothing
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Boardroom
The WAFA production line keeps running