Galaxy coach Ramovic praises Barker ahead of Carling Cup final date

Fresh from guiding TS Galaxy to the Carling Cup final, coach Sead Ramovic has made it known that his ultimate dream is to win the league in the future, heaping praise on his Stellenbosch counterpart Steve Barker ahead of the final.

Galaxy beat AmaZulu 3-2 in the Carling Knockout semifinals at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday to set up a final date with Stellenbosch, who demolished Richards Bay 3-0 at King Zwelithini Stadium a day earlier in another semifinal. The decider is billed for the Moses Mabhida Stadium on December 16.

Lehlohonolo Mojela, Higor Vidal and Samir Nurkovic were on target for Galaxy against Usuthu, who scored their consolation goals via Augustine Kwem and Junior Dion.

"Every day I try my best...hopefully one day we can make progress and win the league but right now we focus on our next game against Pirates [away on Saturday]. We need points to boost our dream to finish in the top eight this season,'' Ramovic said.

"We beat Sundowns, Sekhukhune and now AmaZulu, I think we deserve to be in the final. We will play against Stellenbosch, and I have never won against them...I think I played two draws against them and lost two times as well [in fact he's lost three times against Stellies]. Why?

"They have a fantastic coach, who's been in this business for a long time [Barker is the longest-serving coach in the PSL, having been at Stellies since July 2017]. What he does with this team every season is unbelievable. For me, he's one of the best coaches in this league...Steve Barker."

The German also gave himself a pat on the back for being one of the most qualified coaches in the division as he's armed with a Uefa Pro Licence, explaining how that has helped him to manage his thin squad of 23 players.

"We have a small squad of 23 players. Our players hardly get muscle injuries, so that talks to great periodisation. It took me seven years to educate myself. Yes, I played in one of the big leagues in the world [Bundesliga for clubs like Borussia Mönchengladbach] but playing and coaching aren't the same,'' the Galaxy coach said.

"So, to get the highest education, highest [coaching] licence in the world it took me seven years of hard work and studying these kinds of things like periodisation to make sure that players don't get injured."