Jelusic believes Celtic have a '50/50' chance of winning TKO title

Veselin Jelusic believes Bloemfontein Celtic have a “50/50” chance of winning Saturday’s Telkom Knockout final against Bidvest Wits at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu‚ Durban.

With Celtic in better league form in eighth place in the Absa Premiership to Wits’ astonishing last‚ but the league champions certainly the stronger team on paper‚ Jelusic probably has his assessment about right.

The Serbian coach said he is not surprised at the turnaround he has engineered at Celtic from relegation battlers to cup finalists and mid-table league challengers‚ given his experience before coming to the PSL as national coach of Angola and Botswana.

Celtic made good additions in the preseason‚ including Ndumiso Mabena‚ Lucky Baloyi‚ Roggert Nyundu and Jacky Motshegwa‚ and it says something that their headline signings have all had significant game time and been influential.

“Yes‚ there are some changes‚ of course‚ but I think even in the previous season Celtic had very good players‚” Jelusic said this week.

“And the players who remained from last season have contributed much this season‚ together with the new players we have.

“To play in a cup final is a motivation for all of us. This is my first season [in South Africa] but I have a lot of experience in official competitions.

“I have worked as coach of Angola and Botswana and during those times I had some chances to meet South African national teams in different competitions.

“Honestly‚ the challenge that we have faced here is nothing new to me.

“We have opponents in this final who we respect very much. Wits are the league champions.

“At the moment they maybe don’t have the league results that they would like to but it doesn’t mean anything. So this is a big challenge for us‚ and I would say chances are 50/50.

“We are counting on the motivation and also the qualities of our players and some experience that we have regarding competitive games and important games. Our team knows how to play for a result.”

Celtic reached the final beating SuperSport United on penalties in the last-16‚ Platinum Stars 2-1 in the quarterfinals and Polokwane City on penalties in the semifinals.