Before the scribes start scampering for a notebook and the boo boys saying I told you so, it is not a disciplinary issue or an injury. Louis had not played competitive football until he joined us. He then played against Bloemfontein Celtics in the SAA Sup 8 quarterfinal that was his first competitive game in a long time. Since then he has progressed with relative ease and injury free until yesterday and for a time this morning as well.

Louis has reached a point of major fatigue and he needs to be put on rest coming from spending the last six months on the beach in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. Training twelve times a week can take its toll on a player. The medical team has suggested that we rest Louis for the next day or two and see how he progresses. If need be we might leave him out of the weekend’s game against Dynamos.

With regards to the rest of the team, Songwe Chalwe returned yesterday from Zambia one day later than we had expected him to be back. Nonetheless he has returned without any injuries, which is a good sign. Despite Zambia’s loss, he has not been put into a negative frame of mind, his outlook is still positive and has shown that in training.

Ivorian player Serge Djiehoua has been making steady progress in fitting into his new environment as well as been able to take instructions in English. It has not been easy helping the player acclimatize and one of the most difficult aspects of working with the player has been the language barrier. Initially we worked with a translator but it did become difficult, as the translator could not be at all training sessions.

We obviously had problems getting instructions out to him. Thankfully he has made steady progress in learning English and it is becoming easier for him to understand instructions at both training and during matches. Thanks to Shoes Mosoeu for his kindness to assist Serge. These two have struck up a friendship that is professional. Today Serge can at least pronounce “hola mfo” (hi man!) an indication that he is learning both township lingo. I can too!

I am also worried that Lucky Mzizi and Tinashe Nengomasha are still nursing injuries. Meanwhile, Louis Agyemang has been given Wednesday and Thursday off to recover from fatigue and muscle cramps.

Yours in Love and Peace


Ernst Middendorp