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Thobejane talks up Baroka's rise

Cape Town - Baroka FC coach Kgoloko Thobejane insists his side will be a great addition to the South African top flight, pending their promotion to the Premiership.

Baroka only need a point in their last league match against Milano United on Sunday, as they currently lead the National First Division standings with 59 points and hold a five goal advantage over second placed Highlands Park, to secure their promotion.

The former school teacher believes having a second team from Limpopo (with Polokwane City already playing in the PSL) competiting in the top-tier will help the province, before adding that almost everyone in his squad is good enough to play on the highest level and he has no plans of changing that.

"Yes, its great for the province, it shows the talent that is here, and provides inspiration for other aspiring footballers. But that said, not all our players are from Limpopo, we have players from Gauteng, KZN, etc," Thobejane told the PSL website.

"We don’t limit ourselves to only looking for local players - why would we do that if there are millions of talented players across the country? One needs to have an open mind to any possibility.

"I believe that 80 percent of the squad is good enough to play in the PSL. I want to keep this group together as much as I can. Maybe we’ll look to add three or four players to beef up the squad. But we’ll be looking for talent when we go and recruit, not necessarily experience."

Thobejane's men went down 2-0 to SuperSport United in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup last weekend, and the coach feels some of the decisions could have gone their way, but he is not complaining.

"I have no regrets or complaint about the loss to SuperSport. Yes, the off-side calls against us were tight, but this is part of football. You need to respect the decisions made by the match officials," he added.

"If one is not happy, there are forums and channels, it does help to make a fuss over it during the game - rather the players must remain focussed. Sometimes you bare just not meant to win a game, you may play for seven hours and not score; that’s part of what makes the game exciting and unpredictable."

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