Tshegofatso Mabasa shares special history with Jwaneng Galaxy coach

Mabasa will tomorrow come up against his former Bloemfontein Celtic mentor in the CAF Champions League second preliminary round – first leg at the National Stadium in Botswana. 

The Bucs frontman, who is one of the players Ramoreboli coached at junior level, is not surprised to see him achieving great things at the elite level.

"Coach Morena is not [like] anyone I've dealt with before. I've always believed he is a good coach, he just needed to be given an opportunity," said Mabasa.

"I think Jwaneng did that, and they are now reaping the rewards of his hard work. 

"I had the opportunity to work with Coach Morena from development at Celtic, and in the COSAFA Cup team last year as well, so he's a coach that I know quite well and he obviously knows me as a player."

Last season, it was the same Galaxy that sent Pirates packing from the second preliminary round, and Ramoreboli has already said that he knows all about Pirates and its threats. However, Mabasa says he’s in for a shock this time around.

"But this is a completely different phase – I've grown as a player and there's a lot more tactics involved, so the game won't be the way he expects it to be," he added.

"You can study all you want, but what happens on the day is entirely up to the player himself, and the tactics on the day. So we're not really worried about that. We'll go out there and give it our all."

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