Itumeleng Khune. Pic: Sydney Mahlangu / BackpagePix
Molefi Ntseki’s decision to name Itumeleng Khune in the Bafana Bafana squad to face Sao Tome e Principe home and away in qualifiers for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations next month simply makes no sense.
READ MORE: Khune and Zungu return as Ntseki announces Bafana squad
The 33 year-old Kaizer Chiefs shot-stopper is in no sort of form at all, as he demonstrated with a calamitous display against Mamelodi Sundowns last weekend, a display that was enough to persuade Chiefs head coach Gavin Hunt to put Nigerian Daniel Akpeyi between the poles for Tuesday night’s 1-0 win at Chippa United.
‘It was just one game,’ was the most common refrain I heard about Khune’s performance against Masandawana, and that would be fair enough, except that it wasn’t just one game. Khune has been in decline for some time now, injuries hampering his progress to the extent that at some point last season, he was only seen as third or fourth choice at Amakhosi.
Khune has played just 18 league games for Chiefs since the start of the 2018/19 season, with injury also ruling him out of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals.
The former Bafana captain did return for Chiefs’ final two league games under Ernst Middendorp last season, with Akpeyi out injured, yet Chiefs lost the league title in their final match against Baroka. If it is a little harsh to blame Khune too much for Bakgaga’s equaliser from Kambala, there is also a decent argument that a Khune in his prime would have saved the header at his near post.
Ah, Khune in his prime. There is no doubt that he was the best goalkeeper in the country for a long time, a man who was amazing for Bafana during their qualifying campaign for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in particular, and a significant reason why Chiefs won two league titles in three seasons under Stuart Baxter. His shot stopping was outstanding, he was better at commanding his penalty area than a ‘keeper of his size should ever have been, and his distribution was quite simply world class.
Signs of that distribution are still there, but he is just not the ‘keeper he once was, and it has to be debatable now whether he ever will be again. Perhaps Ntseki feels Khune’s experience at international level will come in handy for the games against Sao Tome. But the other goalkeepers, Ronwen Williams and Darren Keet, are hardly novices, and it would have surely made more sense to bring in a younger goalkeeper for the experience.
Should Ricardo Goss, outstanding for Wits last season, and good when he got his chance in Bafana’s friendlies last month, really have been dropped because he hasn’t been playing for Sundowns this season?
From whatever angle I look at the decision to pick Khune, it is baffling, some sort of misguided nostalgia that should be put to bed until the time this once-great goalkeeper can find his form again.
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