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With Makgopa and Mosele, 'Baroka's future is now' - Thoka
The tactician has further mentioned other youngsters who are set to be promoted to the senior team for the upcoming campaign
Baroka FC coach Matsimela Thoka believes the club is reaping big for their trust in youngsters.
Goodman Mosele and Evidence Makgopa, who are 20 and 21 years old, have been voted the PSL's young players for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, respectively. The latter played 28 matches for Bakgaga and scored seven goals in the process.
He also scored a brace on debut as Bafana Bafana defeated Uganda 3-2 in an international friendly match played at the Orlando Stadium on June 10.
"Our boys Mosele and Makgopa have a bright future in football," Thoka told Sowetan.
"As a team, we are very proud of them. The awards these boys have won are the ultimate recognition the club gets for believing in young blood.
"This is the nature of Baroka, we believe in youngsters. Actually, we look at potential rather than to say ‘no, this one is for the future’. We don’t do that, we believe that the future is now."
The tactician went on to explain how his club chairman Khurishi Mphahlele has supported the technical bench in their bid to nurture upcoming talents.
"I know other coaches are scared to take that risk of trusting youngsters because they are afraid that young players might be overwhelmed by the big stage and underperform, which could result in a job loss for coaches," Thoka continued.
"However, here at Baroka we have the full support of the chairman. He believes in younger players, so it’s easy for us as coaches to throw them in the starting XI."
Thoka has further revealed the team will be aiming at promoting more youngsters into the senior team for the upcoming campaign.
"We will promote two or three youngsters from our development team. At this stage, we can’t give out their names because that could make them think they’ve already arrived, whereas they still have to show if they’re ready for [the] top flight or not," he added.
Baroka finished 10th in the concluded season having managed 34 points. They managed seven wins from the 30 games played, with 13 draws and 10 losses.
They scored 28 goals in the process and conceded 36.
