Cape Town - Itumeleng Khune’s MTN8 heroics on Sunday against Stellenbosch FC have thrown him a career lifeline after he was left kicking his heels on the sidelines for a year.
Kaizer Chiefs were unable to shake off Stellenbosch after extra time and the dreaded penalty shoot-out followed. Goalkeeper Khune made two saves and Chiefs ran out 4-3 victors on penalties after the match ended 1-1.
Khune has been out of favour for several months now, with Bruce Bvuma and Brandon Petersen the preferred keepers.
A few days before the match, Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane said: “Itu has been doing well at training just like all the other keepers, but he obviously needed to be at a certain level for him to be ready to play.
“The other keepers are ahead of him in terms of fitness levels and state of readiness.”
Even though he has been out of favour with Chiefs and Bafana Bafana, Khune is arguably the favourite of Amakhosi fans and is South Africa’s most loved player of the present generation.
In the past two weeks, fans started clamouring for Chiefs to play him and the result was that the technical staff undid the mothball trappings and fielded him between the sticks for the MTN8 quarter-final.
He was not severely tested in the match after Stellenbosch managed a miserly four shots on target, even though they dominated possession.
However, after the match, many took to social media to acclaim Khune’s saves, which opened the way for Chiefs to reach the semi-finals.
Some of the posts rang out: “Itumeleng Khune our Hero; Captain Fantastic; Mzansi’s Finest; Show stopper; Khune the hero!; Two massive saves from Itu; Ladies and gentlemen, Itumeleng Khune is back; Itumeleng Khune remains one of the best goalkeepers in the whole world. We should appreciate his service. Pure class; Give us Barcelona, our Khune is back; All credit goes to Itumeleng Khune, the only man who always saves Kaizer Chiefs in a difficult situation.”
Khune also had his share of detractors, who reckon the two saved Stellenbosch penalties from Deano van Rooyen and William Likuta were weak attempts.
However, they may have been weak, but Khune showed a fine sense of anticipation, and his dives were spot on.
Some fans also pointed out that Khune was to blame for the Stellenbosch goal. In the lead-up to the goal, Khune moved well off his line to thwart the danger on the edge of the penalty box. Once Stellies weaved their way past him, his goal was left unguarded.
Replays show a defender calling out to Khune to stay on his line, but he opted to come out and then went to ground too early to smother the ball.
On the evidence of the performance, Khune will select himself for the starting XI to play against AmaZulu in the Premiership at FNB Stadium on Saturday. After that, Chiefs play Marumo Gallants and SuperSport United.
@Herman_Gibbs