PSL season officially under way this weekend
WITH JUST a few days to go before the Premier Soccer League kicks off, we profile one of the most influential captains and players in Mzansi’s most-loved sport.
He goes by the name of Itumeleng Khune.
Leadership qualities
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 leader of men at a club with the stature 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 standoff over an improved contract and a desire – fuelled by his then agent – to move abroad, he’s been a one-club man. He arrived at Chiefs aged 12 and his meteoric rise within the club structures is well documented. Khune is also one of very few footballers 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.
Route to captaincy
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 some of the most notable players since he’s been there in Cyril Nzama, Jimmy Tau, Tinashe Nengomasha, Thabo Mooki, Arthur Zwane and veteran Shaun Bartlett. The advantage of Khune breaking into the first team so young has been being able to learn from such experienced players. He was appointed captain in October 2011when Tau was stripped of the armband.
Playing style
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 possess. His distribution of the ball, for instance, is one such attribute. 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 another 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 shot-stopper and a proven match-winner. He was plagued by injures last season, but still managed to feature in 24 of his club’s 30 league matches. 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, and a few more games and clean sheets, was the deserved winner of the category. Khune is unbelievably consistent and will probably prove yet again why he is the country’s first choice between the sticks.
Influence
It’s nearly impossible to close 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 the previous season being cases in point. With Khune recovering from injury and second-choice keeper Brilliant Khuzwayo also on the mend, young Bruce Bvuma conceded five goals in those two matches. Khune 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. Many argue that if it wasn’t for Khune’s heroics last season, there’s no way Chiefs would have remained in the title chase until the final days of the campaign.