Marked for Baba Mohammed
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Jan 2029
Chastening afternoon for WAFA
A 0‑4 beating by Medeama was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market15 Jan 2029
Baba Mohammed hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Samuel Adjei in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
WAFA offered $34.0K; Bechem United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Match13 Jan 2029
No clean sheets in sight for WAFA
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The dugout15 Jan 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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Inquest at WAFA
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Baba Nuhu faces the questions
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Baba Nuhu after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Hasaacas have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Dec 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market18 Dec 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at WAFA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at WAFA
Kwadwo Boateng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ogar Sebastine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Dec 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Heart of Lions leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Baba Nuhu: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Baba Sulemana, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where WAFA would like this to lead.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The form table has caught Isaac Boakye
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2028
Samuel Adjei in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ogar Sebastine, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Inter Allies in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Mohammed Addo knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Nov 2028
The Amos Appiah talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. WAFA know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
When it matters, Andrew Ayew plays
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.
Market20 Nov 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Baba Mohammed may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Questions about Patrick Asante on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
WAFA keep producing them
19 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
A falling-out at WAFA
Isaac Kyereh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 May 2028
Samuel Adjei has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at WAFA will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Baba Mohammed, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” WAFA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at WAFA
Samuel Adjei 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Isaac Kyereh, and the manager let it.
Loan watch27 Mar 2028
The goals keep arriving from Harrison Acquah’s exile
9 goals in 26 games at Berekum Chelsea — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at WAFA updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Samuel Adjei has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at WAFA will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamaldeen Djiku 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.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
WAFA take on the side everybody is chasing
Berekum Chelsea arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Market27 Mar 2028
Amos Appiah linked with a move away
The name of Amos Appiah keeps appearing in other people's back pages. WAFA say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Isaac Boakye asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Feb 2028
Abdul Afful has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around WAFA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match19 Feb 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Isaac Kyereh
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Nicolás Vega left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Baba Mohammed and WAFA agree another 3 years.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A falling-out at WAFA
Baba Mohammed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Patrick Asante 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 Patrick Asante trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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.
Loan watch21 Feb 2028
The goals keep arriving from Harrison Acquah’s exile
7 goals in 22 games at Berekum Chelsea — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at WAFA updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.