Marked for Michael Mukangula
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2029
Douglas Ochoko damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sofapaka
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Eugene Wethuli: 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.” Sofapaka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Sofapaka
David Nshimirimana 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Juma 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2029
Douglas Ochoko damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“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 ratings17 Sep 2029
No sign of nerves from Francis Olunga at 17 — 7.65
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Francis Olunga did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
David Nshimirimana 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 terraces17 Sep 2029
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.
Market17 Sep 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Moses Ochieng has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Sep 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Moses Ouma has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.