Marked for Daniel Addo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 Jan 2028
The mood at WAFA has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match29 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for WAFA
12 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Daniel Addo 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.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Jan 2028
David Gyan 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edmund Boateng 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Emmanuel Wakaso
“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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Tempers go at WAFA
Chris Lewis 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Jan 2028
Anger at WAFA spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Ernest Asamoah damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match1 Jan 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.
Market3 Jan 2028
Daniel Addo 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.
Market3 Jan 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Emmanuel Wakaso 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
BA All Stars left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Chris Lewis 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Dec 2027
Ernest Asamoah damages knee ligaments — 48 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Chastening afternoon for WAFA
A 1‑4 beating by Hearts of Oak was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market13 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match11 Dec 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Wakaso 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrew Annan
“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 ratings13 Dec 2027
Edmund Essien was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Boardroom13 Dec 2027
Doors closed at WAFA
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
8 matches without a win for WAFA
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around WAFA are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market27 Sep 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Addo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Emmanuel Wakaso 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Isaac Amoah, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to WAFA's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at WAFA has to find a result from somewhere.
Market20 Sep 2027
Daniel Addo 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Isaac Amoah is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Edmund Essien has improved at 30, 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edmund Boateng 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ernest Asamoah, and the manager let it.
Match18 Sep 2027
BA All Stars left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Anger at WAFA spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at WAFA
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at WAFA is running low.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Aug 2027
WAFA say no — this time
The offer from Zurich for Andrew Annan 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Daniel Addo 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emmanuel Wakaso is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
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Squad
Andrew Ofori has improved at 27, which nobody expected
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Squad
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
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Market
The shop window has Isaac Amoah in it
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Market
Talks stall between WAFA and David Gyan
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Amos Ofori has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The WAFA board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest Asamoah 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Amos Baba 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
WAFA sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ernest Asamoah loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Ernest Asamoah's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
WAFA pull $119.5K 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
Crisis
Match22 Mar 2027
WAFA are in real trouble now
Position 16, 19 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market22 Mar 2027
“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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Ernest Asamoah scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Hasaacas, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Edmund Boateng 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.
Squad22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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 ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Emmanuel Wakaso 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A mark of 5.32 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for WAFA
Position 14 and 9 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” WAFA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Edmund Boateng 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Andrew Ofori 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Edmund Essien was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.57. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
No end in sight to WAFA's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at WAFA has to find a result from somewhere.
Market16 Nov 2026
Isaac Amoah 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.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 33 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Andrew Ofori 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Annan
“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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every WAFA game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at New Edubiase United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for WAFA
11 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edmund Boateng 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Andrew Ofori 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 8.05 — 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to New Edubiase United to sit and watch. I want to come back to WAFA and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Oct 2026
WAFA out of the cup
Medeama ended it 2‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Emmanuel Wakaso: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for WAFA
7 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.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 35 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A chastening introduction for Osman Gyan — 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Daniel Addo is a better footballer than he was
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
WAFA leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match10 Oct 2026
Great Olympics left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.