a squad player keeps Wa All Stars in it on his own
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Christian Tonah 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Nana Appiah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Nuhu 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Christian Tonah’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Wa All Stars needing him to play as if none of it matters.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wa All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abraham Acquah provided it, and the 9.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 goals in one match, Abraham Acquah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Wa All Stars and Great Olympics.
Samuel 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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wa All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Wa All Stars and Aduana Stars in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Christian Tonah 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 8.31 — 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wa All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Wa All Stars and Hearts of Oak, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Christian Tonah 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.
Beaten 6 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wa All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Jeffrey Ofori could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.51
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.51, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
a squad player keeps Wa All Stars in it on his own
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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Wa All Stars and Heart of Lions in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abraham Acquah. 4‑2 against Heart of Lions, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.26 — 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.