Position 3, 41 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Alianza Lima have paid $2.9M for Bruno Larregui, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bruno Larregui is living that version at Alianza Lima, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is going to Sport Huancayo, the club has $1.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Sport Huancayo pay $1.7M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Luis Advíncula 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Andre Mohammed from Hasaacas for $4.7M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
25 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
$4.7M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Gladson Boateng will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Hasaacas escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gladson Boateng provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Andre Mohammed was one of the reasons people came, and $4.7M does not replace that by itself.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Edmund Kyereh 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 bid was some way short and Hasaacas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
A brace, and Joseph Essien takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joseph Essien provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Hasaacas and BA All Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
24 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
He is going to Melgar, the club has $6.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Jeffrey Annan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 offer from Cerro for Abeiku Asante 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Jeffrey Annan, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andre Mohammed 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.
23 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 1, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Nov 2027
Edmund Owusu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.63. 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.
22 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Abeiku Asante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
In brief
MatchAbeiku Asante among the goals in a wild afternoon
“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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Chances created: 17. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Andre Mohammed 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.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hasaacas and Inter Allies, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Kudus did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hasaacas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Bechem United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Asante 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.
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hasaacas.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Edmund Owusu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
“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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeffrey Annan is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Andre Mohammed 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Aduana Stars in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Isaac Mintah has improved at 28, 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.
The offer from New Edubiase United for Andre Djiku 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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Kwadwo Schlupp was one of the reasons people came, and $61.0K does not replace that by itself.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
A season average of 7.11 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hasaacas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Edmund Owusu 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.
In brief
SquadAndre Mohammed has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Abeiku Asante 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Wa All Stars will make the call about Kwadwo Schlupp this week. Hasaacas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Simon Obonde 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Isaac Mintah is living that version at Hasaacas, and it tends to show in the first month.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeffrey Annan is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Asante 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.
Andre Mohammed 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 offer from Ashanti Gold for Jonathan Amoah 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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Asante 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Partey 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.
In brief
SquadAbeiku Asante has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Andre Mohammed 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Obonde 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.
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 offer from Asante Kotoko for Gladson Boateng 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Gladson Boateng has come up in conversations Hasaacas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jeffrey Annan and Hasaacas agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Partey 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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hasaacas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 2, 72 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadEdmund Owusu has become a man the manager trusts
SquadDavid Asante asks for a word with the manager
A season average of 7.11 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hasaacas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Andre Mohammed 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
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.
Position 2, 72 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Andre Mohammed 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 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
SquadEdmund Owusu has become a man the manager trusts
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Edmund Owusu 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Simon Obonde commits to Hasaacas for another 4 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Andre Mohammed 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Partey 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.
Nobody at Hasaacas 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.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Joseph Essien, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
At 17 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadAndre Mohammed falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Andre Mohammed
A season average of 7.45 with 27 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Andre Owusu, 15, plays like he has been here for years — 8.43
A mark of 8.43 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 15-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Andre Mohammed 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kwadwo Schlupp 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andre Owusu. 2‑0 against Ashanti Gold, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Kudus did not need any: 8.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Heart of Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Thomas Kudus 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick 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.
Position 1, 62 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Edmund Kyereh 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
4 goals in 22 games at Inter Allies — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Hasaacas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
He is going to Ventforet Kofu, the club has $79.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Thomas Kudus, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.13, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Inter Allies will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hasaacas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The bid was some way short and Hasaacas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
Simon Obonde 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Gladson Boateng was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Kudus did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Andre Mohammed 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Andre Djiku's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
11 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Jeffrey Annan, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.56
A mark of 8.56 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Andre Mohammed 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 Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Millonarios for Abeiku Asante 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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
6 goals in one match, Abeiku Asante on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hasaacas and Aduana Stars.
7 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andre Mohammed provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hasaacas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Andre Mohammed 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Medeama in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.55 — 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
Player ratingsAndre Mohammed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
SquadJonathan Partey falls out with a teammate over standards
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeffrey Annan did not need any: 8.46, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Hasaacas scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 2 and 32 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Abeiku Asante takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abeiku Asante provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Andre Mohammed 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Asante 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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeffrey Annan did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hasaacas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Ashanti Gold in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsAbeiku Asante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Andre Mohammed at his very best
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Edmund Owusu 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Abeiku Asante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.95. 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Hasaacas and Heart of Lions, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaw Boakye will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hasaacas 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Abeiku Asante 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.
A 2‑1 win over Berekum Chelsea, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Edmund Kyereh 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 young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Hasaacas who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Hasaacas have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
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.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Hasaacas deserved better, and so did he.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Bechem United, and it could have been more.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Abeiku Asante takes the afternoon — 9.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abeiku Asante provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeffrey Annan did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Andre Mohammed 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Bechem United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.44 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Harrison Mensah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Hasaacas and Liberty Professionals.
A brace, and Abeiku Asante takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abeiku Asante provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Jeffrey Annan 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Hasaacas have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Great Olympics will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hasaacas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Thomas Kudus, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.18
A mark of 8.18 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.82 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Abeiku Asante 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Thomas Kudus 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Jeffrey Annan, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Andre Mohammed 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 14 goals between Hasaacas and Wa All Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Abeiku Asante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.85. 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Inter Allies moved on, Joseph Essien reports back to Hasaacas, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Aduana Stars in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Kwadwo Schlupp 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Francis Wakaso provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Jeffrey Annan could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.52
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.52, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Andre Mohammed 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and BA All Stars in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Asante 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Partey 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.
Edmund Owusu 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Abeiku Asante 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.
Add another name to the list: Inter Allies have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joseph Essien. The answer from Hasaacas has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Edmund Kyereh 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.
Edmund Owusu 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 easiest signature of my career.” Francis Wakaso and Hasaacas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Mohammed 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.