Khune talks tough ahead of trip to Pretoria
KAIZER Chiefs will be marching to the nation's capital tomorrow ready "to go to war", according to veteran goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune.
Chiefs face off against the league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns in their own backyard Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria desperate to claim all three points to maintain their push for a top eight place in what has been a disappointing league campaign for the Amakhosi. They are languishing in 11th place after the midweek defeat to Cape Town City at home and trail Sundowns by 22 points despite playing one match more.
"We are a big club and it has to show and we need to collect the points to get into the top eight," Khune said.
"We are going to Pretoria to fight. We are going for the battle. We are going for war! We are not going there to make it easy for our opponents and will take the game to them and not allow them space and to take advantage of the fact that we lost our last game."
The 33-year-old Khune, who was once the poster boy of both Bafana Bafana and Chiefs, has struggled with form and personal tragedy recently, and subsequently has not been able to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up.
Coach Gavin Hunt only recently restored Khune to the Chiefs' No 1 jersey after Daniel Akpeyi was red-carded during the CAF Champions League clash against Wydad Casablanca.
But despite coming in for criticism for his showing in the defeat to City from the Amakhosi faithful, Khune has promised to lead from the front tomorrow.
"It hasn't been an easy season for us from start. But we are fighting together, we fight for the badge.
“It takes the whole team to stay switched on throughout the 90 minutes. But as a goalkeeper you need to lead from the back towards the front, keep players on their toes, keep reminding them to stay on their toes," Khune said.
"We just have to minimise the mistakes because every time we concede, we concede through lapses of concentration, so if we can just concentrate more and minimise the mistakes we can avoid conceding those silly goals.
"Sundowns have been doing very well but at this stage we are just focusing on ourselves and our game plan. We are focusing on how we can take advantage of the opportunities that we create.
“It is very important that every game we go into now we dig deep for the results and fight until the end," he added.