Amos Mensah

Left Wingback - Kariobangi Sharks
22 Jul 2029
Sunday
Process

Marked for Amos Mensah

146 Edition

The Kariobangi Sharks Post

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Kariobangi Sharks out of the cup

Kakamega Homeboyz ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

The terraces

The boos come down from three sides

“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.

Squad

Jeffrey Wakaso says Kariobangi Sharks went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Kariobangi Sharks

Sebastian Wekesa 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.

Squad

Words at Kariobangi Sharks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taoufik Safsafi 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.

Match

Kariobangi Sharks come up short against APS Bomet

APS Bomet left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

No hiding place for Mohammed Habib Sarwari

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Habib Sarwari, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Klinsman Omulanga could not find anything

5.30. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.

Player ratings

Amos Mensah never got going

5.34 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.

In brief

Back issues
145 Edition

The Kariobangi Sharks Post

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Amos 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.” Kariobangi Sharks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Sebastian Wekesa 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 Kariobangi Sharks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Taoufik Safsafi 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Patillah Omoto

“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.

Match

Kariobangi Sharks see off Sofapaka

Three points for Kariobangi Sharks, 1‑0 the final word against Sofapaka in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Stephen Mbulere Bwire

7.75, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kariobangi Sharks had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Market

The Keegan Ndemi question follows Kariobangi Sharks around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Keegan Ndemi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Player ratings

Off the pace: Alex Warai

A mark of 5.70 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Eugene Ikutwa

9 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

In brief

103 Edition

The Kariobangi Sharks Post

17 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Ally Salum Omar scores twice — 8.34

Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Dan Erez puts it in writing

“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 Kariobangi Sharks, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Amos Mensah says Kariobangi Sharks went back on their word

“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.

Player ratings

A chastening introduction for Nana Wakaso — 5.70

It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.70 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.

Squad

Tempers go at Kariobangi Sharks

Sebastian Wekesa 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.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kariobangi Sharks and Kenya Police in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Words at Kariobangi Sharks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taoufik Safsafi 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Taoufik Safsafi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Taoufik Safsafi, and the manager let it.

Match

Honours even between Kariobangi Sharks and Kenya Police

3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

88 Edition

The Kariobangi Sharks Post

3 Apr 2028
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

4 matches without a win for Kariobangi Sharks

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Kariobangi Sharks are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Sebastian Wekesa 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 Kariobangi Sharks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Ally Salum Omar among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Ally Salum Omar on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kariobangi Sharks and Tusker.

Squad

Kariobangi Sharks count the cost of losing Keegan Ndemi

29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Match

Ally Salum Omar’s goal not enough for Kariobangi Sharks

Ally Salum Omar scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Tusker, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Taoufik Safsafi 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Taoufik Safsafi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Taoufik Safsafi, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Patillah Omoto

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Amos Mensah is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Kariobangi Sharks has been clear about where Amos Mensah stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

58 Edition

The Kariobangi Sharks Post

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Musa Sulaiman damages knee ligaments — 52 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.

Market

Musa Sulaiman puts it in writing

“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 Kariobangi Sharks, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Amos Mensah keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kariobangi Sharks may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Kariobangi Sharks

Sebastian Wekesa 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.

Squad

Words at Kariobangi Sharks training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taoufik Safsafi 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.

Market

Kariobangi Sharks sign Sifiso Modiba, one for the future

Sifiso Modiba is 19, and Kariobangi Sharks have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Match

Denis Owino rescues a point for Kariobangi Sharks

It needed Denis Owino to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sofapaka, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Player ratings

Stephen Mbulere Bwire runs at them all day

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.

Market

The Faiz Opande question follows Kariobangi Sharks around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Faiz Opande’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief