Next week will see three games played in a seven day time frame. Hopefully two of those games will be against Egypt, the first one this Monday is truly a non issue as nothing will be settled by the outcome as there is 139 points between the two so even if we were to pull the upset it will not affect the seeding for the medal round. However this does not mean I will not seek to find a way to put a good honest effort together to see if it can be done, though this might be a spot where I think a little outside the box in terms of matchups and tactics just to see if I stumble across something. Then will be Nigeria on Friday followed by HOPEFULLY a match to settle it all which I can pretty much assume will be Egypt as nobody outside of their first meeting with Senegal and our first meeting has served as anything but a speed bump for this Polish led powerhouse. The goal is to get to that point, but let's not put the cart before the horse.
A solid week of training, a potential dark cloud however looms on the horizon, more on that in a moment.
Kefentse Solomons: maximum GS and his best DMI of the year coupled with a long awaited OD pop. Has really struggled in the competition of late dating back to the troubles he had the first time against Egypt which he seemingly has never fully recovered from. While having a productive offensive output from him has been made less essential due to others stepping up I have got to see if I can cajole a solid effort from him in this last final stretch. I am almost tempted to have him come off the bench this Monday as he might just be most effective that way.
Montsho Mthebe: the guy who really has turned into the straw that stirs the drink did not see a pop this week but is holding steady on his form.
Ketso Nthite: a driving pop has him sitting pretty in the HA/DR combination, somewhat surprising low on the DMI but still strong on the GS, could come off the bench this week as well, still need to take a good hard look at where I want everyone this week.
Lebohang Mbata: a JS and JR pop this week has him on the edge of elasticity on the former which means he will probably be a big contributor offensively for next season, but he has much still to offer this season.
Kasiya Mbazia: a JR pop is nice, still more of defense orientated player, his owner let me know he is in some financial difficulty and that the creditors are about to come calling, so if you see his guys on the TL pick them up so his team doesn't get put out on the street ya know!
Mpho Toyana: No pops this week, OK on the GS/DMI, again someone who is factored into the rotation on this season with his real development expected to bear fruit next. But he does give us depth at the point.
Fabian Pöll: in a holding pattern right now, no pops but maintained the approximate condition he had last week.
Jabulani Manzini: good boost on GS/DMI as he is higher in the latter than Poll though I feel Poll is still our better option, but again he is developing well and a IS pop doesn't hurt his cause whatsoever.
Krish Modise: really don't think he will be much of a factor down the stretch as his GS?DMI is a little down and will drop further being on the TL. But he's been a stout lad for us this season.
Jabulani Makeba: Saw three pops, minor jumps in deficient HA/DR and a JS pop, is on a nice trajectory for the future.
And the balance of the squad did not leave much to write home about, nor did I expect any of them to!