Marked for Nelson Ralenkoane
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 May 2030
Hadama Cissé 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 AS Korofina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mosese Naba commits to AS Korofina for another 2 years.
Squad13 May 2030
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 May 2030
Lwandile Khawuta: 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.” AS Korofina have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 May 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Korofina is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 May 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nelson Ralenkoane and AS Korofina agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 May 2030
Hadama Cissé 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.
Boardroom6 May 2030
AS Korofina release $540.8K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad6 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Siyabonga Ngcobo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Mar 2030
Hadama Cissé 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 AS Korofina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Mar 2030
Bongani Cele scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Djoliba, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Mar 2030
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Mpho Manare knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Feb 2030
Hadama Cissé 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.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings4 Feb 2030
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match2 Feb 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. FC Diarra will be the happier side with the point.
Market4 Feb 2030
The Thuto Sesipi story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thuto Sesipi signs something — a contract at AS Korofina or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Syaiful Asri knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Syaiful Asri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Feb 2029
Abbey Benson 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.
Match24 Feb 2029
2‑3 to Binga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nelson Ralenkoane, and the manager let it.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohamed Naâmani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to AS Korofina's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS Korofina has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Korofina may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Dec 2028
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Mohamed Naâmani, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Abbey Benson 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.
Match16 Dec 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Oct 2028
No end in sight to AS Korofina's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS Korofina has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Oct 2028
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Abbey Benson 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Dramane Traoré
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match21 Oct 2028
AS Bakaridjan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Oct 2028
5 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nelson Ralenkoane and AS Korofina agree another 3 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Abbey Benson 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match7 Oct 2028
Etoiles du Mande left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Sep 2028
Hadama Cissé 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Bongani Cele gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market25 Sep 2028
The Abbey Benson talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Korofina know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.