The Kun Khalifat Chronicle
Squad23 Apr 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ikenna Benjamin
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kun Khalifat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Apr 2035
The wait goes on for Kun Khalifat
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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Chijioke Ahiaeke 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.
Player ratings23 Apr 2035
Ninety minutes of Alex Amaefula at his very best
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kun Khalifat.
Match21 Apr 2035
No time for Niger Tornadoes to settle
The goal that put Niger Tornadoes ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Kun Khalifat equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Simon Umar signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simon Umar and Kun Khalifat agree another 3 years.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Terem Chukwueze 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 Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Apr 2035
Honours even between Kun Khalifat and Niger Tornadoes
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings23 Apr 2035
Nobody could get near Donald Essien
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
- Market The shop window has Michael Iwobi in it
- Boardroom The Kun Khalifat production line keeps running