Africa-Press – South-Africa. After being out of the starting XI for almost a year, veteran goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune is happy to be back in the Kaizer Chiefs side and playing regularly.
Khune’s heroic rise back into the Amakhosi fold came when he helped inspire his team to a win over Stellenbosch FC in the MTN8 quarter-finals a fortnight ago, as Khune made two saves in a penalty shootout.
Since that game, he has made three more appearances in all competitions.
Khune has vowed to try his best to remain the number one ‘keeper, however he knows there is fierce competition.
“It feels good to be back on the field playing regularly but it’s not going to be easy for me to keep the number one spot because of the competition we have in the team,” said Khune.
“In our department, Brandon (Peterson) is waiting for his opportunity, Bruce (Bvuma) is waiting for his opportunity, Bontle (Molefe) is waiting for his opportunity.
“Every match that Itumeleng Khune plays he knows he has to give an extra 10 percent on top of the 100 that he always gives so it feels great to be back.”
Chiefs have had a disappointing start to the season by their high standards, sitting 14th in the DStv Premiership.
However, Khune believes that it’s not as bad as being made out to be.
“We are not doing badly, but it’s not the start we wanted. So, for me, my role and responsibility is to keep reminding the guys how good we are and how much we can believe in ourselves, in our ability to get ourselves out of the situation we put ourselves in.”
Khune says the squad struggles to translate training ground performances on matchdays. He adds the players need to believe in themselves to get out of this dip in form.
“We just have to keep believing, have to work hard in training. Whatever we do in training we must take it into our games because at training we do score beautiful goals, we do make beautiful saves, everyone is doing everything he can in his respective position,” he said.
“But during matches, I don’t know what tends to get into our heads because I think we don’t give what we always give here in training. That’s something we need to work on and improve.”
When asked by reporters how he feels about the state Chiefs are in, he says the players need to realise that they are playing for Kaizer Chiefs and to stop being “star-struck”.
“It’s affecting me badly because I think every player has his role and his responsibility to play in making sure that the club goes back to the glory days,” said Khune.
“I think for now, a lot of us are still star-struck. A lot of us don’t believe we are playing for Kaizer Chiefs because we haven’t come out of our shells so that’s something we need to realise that we are at Kaizer Chiefs and start performing like a Kaizer Chiefs player because the fans demand results, demand consistency so it’s something we need to realise and improve on as individuals.”
Khune does not only have his sights set on the Chiefs number one, but Bafana’s as well.
“I want to compete for the number one spot here at Chiefs and hopefully get the call back to Bafana,” a defiant Khune concluded.
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