Khune joins Chiefs’ 300 club
Keeper’s sights on Doc’s record
With Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune making his 300th appearance for the club last weekend, we look back at some of his best moments since his PSL debut in 2007.
Khune, 30, reached the milestone in their 2-1 win over Stellenbosch in the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup played at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium. He made his PSL debut against Jomo Cosmos on August 25 2007.
The Ventersdorp-born goalie has been in goal in 236 league games, 59 cup games and five more in the CAF Champions League.
Here are the top 10 of his highlights:
1. You mention Khune, December 1 2007 and the Chiefs fans, especially, will have no trouble remembering the day. Chiefs met Mamelodi Sundowns in the final of the Telkom Knockout with the match ending goalless in regulation time. Khune then had a big say with three penalty saves, including a retake by Peter Ndlovu. To put the icing on the cake for the then 20year-old, the man he looked up to, Brian Baloyi, was between the sticks for the Brazilians. At the end of that season, he picked up five awards including the PSL players’ player of the season accolade.
2. During the SA sports awards in 2008, he was named the newcomer of the year.
3. With his career on the up, he then made his Bafana Bafana debut against Zimbabwe on March 11 2008. He’s now sitting on 86 senior national team caps.
4. He played a pivotal role in his first international tournament, as Bafana qualified for the semifinals of the Fifa Confederations Cup on home soil. Famously, he saved a penalty against Spain but then conceded straight away. He could do little about Dani Alves’s late free-kick when Brazil edged Bafana 1-0 at Ellis Park in the last four.
5. When Bafana Bafana’s squad was confirmed on June 1 2010,
Khune had made the cut and went on to play both games as SA were knocked out in the first round of the tournament on home soil. He was sent off against Uruguay in the second game.
6. He missed just one league match as Amakhosi won the 2012/13 league title. He added another one in the 2014/15 season
7. In 2013, he was named SA’s sportsman of the year
8. Khune was named the PSL’s 2012/13 footballer of the season.
9. He’s been the PSL’s goalkeeper of the season three times: 2007/08, 2012/13 and 2013/14.
10. Khune’s other individual awards include the 2007 Telkom Knockout player of the tournament and goalkeeper of the tournament, PSL players’ player of the season (2012/13), Kaizer Chiefs player of the season (2007/08, 2012/13), Kaizer Chiefs players’ player of the season (2007/08, 2012/130) and Nedbank Cup player of the tournament (20s13).