Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josphat Andafu Mukhwana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Warai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joshua Nyatini signs something — a contract at Kakamega Homeboyz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Warai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Kakamega Homeboyz will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of John Omondi has come up in conversations Kakamega Homeboyz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Machaka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A season average of 7.06 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Kakamega Homeboyz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Edwin Mukolwe 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Kariobangi Sharks have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about John Omondi. The answer from Kakamega Homeboyz has not changed — yet.
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.
“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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mathare United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Musa Masika 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moise Mbombo. 1‑0 against Mara Sugar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Warai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mathare United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mathare United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mathare United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Amza Moubarack 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mathare United can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mathare United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Herit Atariza 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Herit Atariza signs something — a contract at Mathare United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mathare United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Amza Moubarack 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mathare United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sofapaka? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mathare United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mathare United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Herit Atariza 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Herit Atariza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mathare United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee is $180.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Gor Mahia drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Amza Moubarack 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Douglas Mokaya 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mathare United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Herit Atariza 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Herit Atariza 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.
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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Mathare United have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kevin Ouru: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Sofapaka are out and Mathare United go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 22 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mathare United can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Nyamawi Beja could not do
Douglas Mokaya 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mathare United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Musa Masika and Mathare United agree another 3 years.
Herit Atariza 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.