Bafana could have some good Fortune in Zambia
Some have suggested that goalkeepers and defenders make the best captains because they can see the game from all angles. But there is more to it than that in appointing Khune, the national team’s No 1, as skipper of Kaizer Chiefs.
The 30-year-old is a big personality and extremely vocal on the pitch. A Chiefs captain can’t be timid – the high stakes dictate that whoever is given that responsibility should be able to take the pressure.
Although Khune was almost out the door in 2015 following a stand-off over an improved contract and a desire – fuelled by his then agent – to move abroad, he’s been a one-club man.
The Bafana goalie arrived at Chiefs aged 12 and his meteoric rise within the club structures is well documented. He’s probably had that armband coming given how life at Naturena has panned out for him.
Khune is also one of a very few who are honest in interviews, and this much has been on display during the previous two seasons, at a time during which the club has not been able to win a single trophy.
The goalkeeper’s assessment of what needs to be fixed is often refreshing. From the time he made his debut two months after turning 20, this type of responsibility was almost inevitable.
Khune has been an understudy to not just great goalkeepers in Brian Baloyi,
Rowen Fernandez and Emile
Baron, but he’s also played alongside some notable players like Cyril Nzama, Jimmy Tau, Tinashe Nengomasha,
Thabo Mooki, Arthur Zwane and veteran Shaun Bartlett. The advantage of Khune breaking into the firstteam so young has been that he was able to learn from such experienced players.
He was appointed captain in October 2011 following then coach Vladimir It’s difficult to narrow down a goalkeeper’s way of playing, but Khune has several traits in his game that very few of his counterparts posses. His distribution of the ball, for instance, is one such attribute and over the years both club and country have benefited incredibly from it. Khune has the ability to spot a teammate from a distance and deliver a timely, accurate and well-measured pass to send them on their way.
But that is just one side of his game.
Khune, not the tallest in his position in the PSL and probably something that has cost him a move to Europe in the past, is a known shotstopper and a proven matchwinner. He was FORMER Bafana Bafana star Quinton Fortune could potentially travel with the national team to Zambia today for their second leg of the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifier with the prospect of joining head coach Stuart Baxter’s technical team.
Baxter had hinted while in Nigeria two months ago ahead of Bafana’s opening 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at home to the Super Eagles that he’d ask the South African Football Association (Safa) to give the role of a second assistant coach to an ex-player.
At the time he mentioned Benni McCarthy, who was not yet appointed Cape Town City mentor, Shaun Bartlett, former captain Aaron Mokoena and Fortune, the 40-year-old former Manchester United and Atletico Madrid midfielder.
Baxter will not travel to Zambia for the return leg on Saturday, but revealed in a statement yesterday afternoon that Fortune will accompany his other assistant coach, Thabo Senong, for the match at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium. Vermezovic’s decision to strip Tau of the role after a bust-up between the two. plagued by injures last season, but still managed to feature in 24 of his club’s 30 league matches – conceding 18 goals.
His omission from the Goalkeeper of the Season nomination list came as a bit of a shock, although ultimately Wits’ Darren Keet, with a championship medal around his neck, a few more games and clean sheets, was the deserved winner.
Khune is unbelievably consistent and will likely prove yet again why he is South Africa’s first choice between the sticks.
It’s near impossible to fill the gap in Khune’s absence. Whenever Chiefs have tried it they have come unstuck, the two important matches in the PSL title race against Cape Town City and SuperSport United in the final weeks of last season being a perfect case in point.
With Khune recovering from injury and second-choice keeper Brilliant Khuzwayo also on the mend, young Bruce Bvuma from the reserve team was thrown in at the deep end and conceded five goals in those two matches.
Amakhosi always expect to struggle in goal when Khune is unavailable.
He also demands a lot from his back four and can often be seen calling on them to “switch on” at critical phases of the match.
Pundits have argued that if it wasn’t for Khune’s heroics last season, there is simply no way Chiefs would have remained in the title chase until the final days of the campaign.
“I have had very little time to concentrate on the absolutely vital assignment that is the Cape Verde (World Cup) qualifier. I am going to use some of the time to watch the PSL games over the weekend and prepare for the squad announcement on Monday,” Baxter explained.
“One of the staff that will be travelling to Zambia, albeit on a temporary basis, is Quinton Fortune. He arrived this morning (yesterday) and will follow the training session at FNB Stadium. We are still to decide if he will go with Thabo to be some kind of an assistant or a spectator – just to see how we do things.
“When the squad gets back, there will be a conversation between him and the association to see if we found common ground, and also to see if there is any room to bring him on a permanent basis. What is happening now is just a matter of the two parties having to look at the situation.”
Baxter was appointed Bafana coach in May, replacing axed Shakes Mashaba, but has been without a permanent technical team since deciding not to retain the services of Owen da Gama and goalkeeper coach Lucky Shiburi, who were part of Mashaba’s backroom staff.
The only exception was Senong, with Baxter adamant that the young tactician can continue to grow under his watch.
Bafana face Cape Verde on September 1 away and host them four days later at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Baxter was expected to announce his travelling squad yesterday afternoon, but the press conference was postponed to Monday.
@superjourno