Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Kwesi Pong 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.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amos Bukari and Heart of Lions agree another 3 years.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
Kwesi Pong 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Thomas Afful 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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Andre Asante 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Ebenezer Shamo’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Walid Fuseini
“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 The request is on a desk at Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kwesi Pong 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ashanti Gold have kept their man, and Heart of Lions go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Heart of Lions have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heart of Lions, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eze Matthew signs something — a contract at Heart of Lions or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Wa All Stars have accepted the money. What Heart of Lions do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Heart of Lions have made the call to Ashanti Gold. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heart of Lions, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Heart of Lions will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Heart of Lions will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
Kwesi Pong 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.
Hearts of Oak have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Asante Kotoko have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Heart of Lions have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Heart of Lions can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Heart of Lions have done the hard part with Ashanti Gold, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Asante Kotoko have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Bernard Mohammed'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alain Gueï trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Sulemana and Heart of Lions agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Heart of Lions has been clear about where Kingsford Boakye stands, which is more than many ever get.
Position 8 on 36 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Eze Matthew 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Heart of Lions is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Marked 6.72 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Martin Karikari. 3‑2 against WAFA, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Alieu Cham was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
WAFA held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Heart of Lions answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJavan Omondi knocks on the manager’s door
“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 Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andre Asante 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.
A point taken on 90 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.
11 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Heart of Lions, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Heart of Lions will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The deal with Asante Kotoko died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Heart of Lions until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Andre Asante 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.
Heart of Lions have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Heart of Lions has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Eze Matthew has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThomas Afful knocks on the manager's door
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.
“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 Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andre Asante 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.
Medeama made Heart of Lions work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Thomas Afful is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Heart of Lions lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.