Posted in News on Dec 02, 2007.
As Chiefs knocked out Moroka Swallows in the opening round via the shoot out and their final match of the 2007 Telkom Cup, had the young keeper who was on Friday included in the South African squad for the 2008 CAF Africa Cup of nations in Ghana.
Saving Patrick Apataki’s spot kick at the opposite end of the ground, it was a real strange case of coincidences as Gordon Igesund brought Apataki on as a substitute during the shoot out.
For Khune being able to stand up and save three penalties in the shoot out including twice from an experienced old head such as Sundowns striker Peter Ndlovu, whose spot kick was retaken speaks volumes of the commitment of the young goalkeeper who played through the pain of multiple cramps towards the end of the match and the shoot out.
During penalty kicks the Chiefs goalkeeper had to receive treatment from the clubs medical staff, but he endured the pain and stood tall to take his rightful place on the podium, it now remains to be seen whether Khune can walk away with the prize as the goalkeeper of the tournament when the individual award winners receive their prizes at a function to be held on Tuesday afternoon in Johannesburg.
Fitting gesture
Once Khune had saved Apataki’s penalty and television camera’s centred on Sundowns goalkeeper Brian Baloyi who during his time as a Chiefs player became famous for his heroics as a specialist a stopping penalties, laying on the floor in tears at losing out in the Cup Final. Baloyi eventually picked himself up and walked over to Khune who was celebrating his Cup triumph and embraced him, Khune said afterwards of the ‘spider mans’ actions.
“To me it was really special that a player of Brian’s stature could come up and say well done just after he had lost the game, that says a lot of the character of the man. It was a wonderful sporting gesture from him, and to receive the praise I did from him after wards is very encouraging for me, as my career progresses I wish to be just as competitive a player as Brian has been through out his”.
Battle between the poles
In a bid to get the best out of the teams Telkom at the start of the tournament laid on numerous incentives to reward individual performances, one of the awards will go to the goalkeeper of the tournament.
The award will bring a R100 000 cash prize with it and with both Baloyi and Khune only conceding two goals in open play through the tournament, the race could not be tighter to determine who would receive the vote as the best man between the sticks.
Khune though is just happy that he has a Telkom Cup winner’s medal around his neck, anything above that would be a real bonus.
He said “being able to play in the three games and helping the team win the Cup has made this triumph all the more special, winning the goalkeeper of the tournament would make it extra special.
Just being in the reckoning for the prize means a lot to me, especially given the face that this is the first major tournament I have played in. Also I must add that our goalkeeper coach Rainer Dinkelacker must take a lot of credit for all the work he put in with me over the past few years and this has resulted in me been the player that I am”.
No stopping
Towards the end of Saturday evenings Telkom Cup Final Itumeleng Khune went down with cramps and through the shoot out he was writhing in pain again, he drew the strength to go on as he explains from the encouragement of his team mates.
He divulges “during the game when I went down Jimmy Tau came to me and said that we are so close to the end and that I battled to this point and I need to go on.
That got me up and when we went into the shoot out Cyril Nzama echoed similar words to me, I knew that the team were counting on me and I could not let them down. At least not at this stage of the game because we were a few kicks away from winning the game, seeing the sight of the guys on the field and those on the bench urging me on and the fans cheering got me back on my feet and that helped me put my best game forward in the shoot out”.
