Two goals and a mark of 8.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” WAFA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edmund Paintsil. 3‑1 against Bechem United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Amoah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kwadwo Schlupp and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 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.
“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 ratings22 Nov 2027
Harrison Boakye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
Samuel Asamoah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Andre Amoah 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 goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAndre Owusu asks for a word with the manager
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.
Jeffrey Kudus 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Amoah 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Samuel Asamoah'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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Amoah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Jeffrey Kudus 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.
29 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Amoah 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mohammed Gyan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Position 2, 54 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Amoah 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 2, 53 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.
Jeffrey Kudus and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Andre Amoah 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joseph Schlupp. 1‑0 against Heart of Lions, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.95 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, WAFA had the best player on the pitch.
Squad12 Apr 2027
8 new faces, and WAFA are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felix Baba could afford to be generous.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Bandile Dlamini will call it something else in private.
Jeffrey Kudus 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Amoah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Harrison Boakye 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Berekum Chelsea scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Crotone have made their interest known and WAFA have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asante Kotoko have kept their man, and WAFA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 7.78 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, WAFA had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Felix Baba kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Position 2, 28 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.
Harrison Boakye and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Amoah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Edmund Paintsil 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.
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Samuel Asamoah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Inter Allies? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Chances created: 8. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Nobody at WAFA is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one WAFA will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Amoah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Harrison Boakye 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Felix Adjei was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at WAFA, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Felix Baba could afford to be generous.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Asante Kotoko; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Samuel Asamoah 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felix Baba after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at WAFA, another week without a signature from Harrison Boakye.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and WAFA have no good answer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Joseph 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.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon WAFA had all but put away. Aduana Stars will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Amoah 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andre Amoah 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.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Felix Baba, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, WAFA have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Ashanti Gold had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and WAFA did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Andre Amoah 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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. WAFA will try again when the window opens; Asante Kotoko may not be selling by then.
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.
He is 23 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at WAFA, another week without a signature from Edmund Paintsil.