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Baroka’s Kobola on beating mentor: ‘his lessons didn’t go down the drain’
The Motsepe Foundation Championship was as much a battle between Baroka FC and Pretoria Callies as it was between coach Vincent Kobola and his mentor at SuperSport United Academy, Kwanele Kopo.
Bakgaga registered their first win of the season after thrashing the Tshwane-based outfit 3-1 at Global Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
The victory saw Baroka climb up the log standings to the ninth position with four points from three outings.
WHAT THE WIN MEANS FOR KOBOLA
“It was nice playing against him [Kwanele Kopo]. I even told him after the match that ‘coach I’m your student’,” Kobola told FARPost in a post-match interview.
“Coach Kopo is the one who promoted me to play for SuperSport United. He is the one who came here to Polokwane to fetch me to play for SuperSport Academy.
“So, winning against him really shows that his work [lessons] did not go down the drain. I’m very humbled about the game outcomes.”
While both Kobola and Kopo are in charge of one of the best clubs in South African football second-tier, they’re battling different challenges.
Although the old habits of conceding late goals through slack defending and failing to convert their clear-cut chances have continued to hurt the Baroka in their previous matches.
However, Kobola was a relieved man after fruitful results yesterday.
KOPO’s CHALLENGE AT CALLIES
Meanwhile, Kopo, on the other hand, had the challenge of starting his pre-season late than other clubs as the club was put on sale.
And in a turn of events, the club’s hierarchy decided otherwise in the last minutes which affected the team this season as they remain winless after three games.
Reflecting on the match itself, Kobola stated that: “In the previous games we had chances to score but we couldn’t bury those opportunities.
“However, I’m happy that today we finally got a win at home. The boys really worked very hard, and we did not panic because we knew a win was going to come,” he said.
“I wanted a clean sheet but the visitors managed to pull one back which we still need to go back and rectify it.
“We played 0-0 against All Stars last week and I was too harsh on the strikers that they need to score, now they scored three goals but still conceded, so we need to balance that.”
Baroka will take a short trip to Malamulele Stadium to face Black Leopards in the second-tier league Limpopo derby on Sunday, 18 September.
The kick-off is at 15:00.
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