From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Mara Sugar's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mara Sugar has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mara Sugar have done the hard part with Posta Rangers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Mara Sugar asked and AFC Leopards said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Mara Sugar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Michael Isabwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Aug 2026
Kakamega Homeboyz left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Benard Okinyi
“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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2026
Muranga Seal ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Kenya Police, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Mara Sugar
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Mara Sugar are no longer polite ones.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a goal for Mara Sugar
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia 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 Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Mara Sugar asked and Bandari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Michael Isabwa 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Tusker come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Mara Sugar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Victor Mbugua is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francis Mukangula is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. John Okoth is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Kelvin Mwavali
“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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan move for Geoffrey Ojunga is in the works
Mara Sugar have made the call to Bandari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Posta Rangers: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Kenya Police 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Alex Imbusia beats them one at a time
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
The formation has left Joseph Odhiambo behind
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alex Imbusia and Mara Sugar agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Isabwa 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Tusker, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Ibrahim Ochieng’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
No place for Benard Okinyi in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Mara Sugar are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.