Marked for Caleb Onyango
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
Market1 Oct 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
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.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
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.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caleb Onyango, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Oct 2029
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Gor Mahia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market1 Oct 2029
The Lewis Bandi talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gor Mahia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market1 Oct 2029
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Gor Mahia could get for him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Sep 2029
81 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match15 Sep 2029
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market17 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A season average of 7.43 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match15 Sep 2029
Whatever happens, Gor Mahia do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Sylvester Owino pops up at the right end — 7.90
7.90, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Bryton Onyona goes up and wins it — 7.91
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Aug 2029
First, on 71 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market20 Aug 2029
“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 Gor Mahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match18 Aug 2029
Gor Mahia make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gor Mahia have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Samuel Kapen
14 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Gor Mahia now.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Justiniano 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.
Match18 Aug 2029
A 1‑0 win over Bandari, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
Ninety minutes of Enock Morrison at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gor Mahia.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 May 2029
Gor Mahia through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Nairobi United, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A brace, and John Miheso takes the afternoon — 8.74
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. John Miheso provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Caleb Onyango, 17, steals the show — 7.61
Marked 7.61 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match12 May 2029
Whatever happens, Gor Mahia do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match12 May 2029
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad14 May 2029
A row about effort at Gor Mahia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Frank Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 May 2029
Daniel Sakari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces14 May 2029
He is 21 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.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 May 2029
Gor Mahia keep winning on the road
8 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match5 May 2029
Gor Mahia make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gor Mahia have 6 straight wins of it.
The dugout7 May 2029
Caleb Onyango: 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.” Gor Mahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 May 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Samuel Kapen
11 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Caleb Omondi and Gor Mahia agree another 4 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frank Odhiambo 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.
Match5 May 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Thamsanqa Ndelu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gor Mahia.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Thamsanqa Ndelu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.61. 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.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Ninety minutes of Samuel Kapen at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Gor Mahia.