11 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Out, 1‑2 to Berekum Chelsea, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Daniel Djiku will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at WAFA escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
A brace, and Daniel Djiku takes the afternoon — 9.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Djiku provided it, and the 9.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrick Mohammed did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Position 15 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Mohammed Ayew 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.
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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jonathan Ofori did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Ofori 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Djiku. 2‑0 against New Edubiase United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Edmund Acquah 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.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Mohammed Ayew 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Jul 2034
At 20, Daniel Djiku is already the best thing here
An average of 7.09 in a first team he is several years too young for. WAFA have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Daniel Djiku 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.