Mbombela – Itumeleng Khune believes it is about time Bafana Bafana “shut out” dissenting voices and go out to beat Nigeria.
Back in the national team after a long injury-induced absence, the Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper feels there is no better time than today for the South African senior national team to get one over their nemesis following many years of failure.
“Now we’ve got another chance to turn things around,” he said as he looked ahead to this afternoon’s friendly international against the Super Eagles at Mbombela Stadium.
Bafana have only beaten their West African counterparts once in a friendly since South Africa’s readmission into international football back in 1992 and Khune says this pathetic record has a lot to do with the players’ mental state than their ability.
“I think it is the mentality,” says the former national team captain who missed out on the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the tournament itself because of an injury that saw him out of action for the squad for over a year. “Whenever we play Nigeria there is this hype around it that ends up distracting the players. Instead of taking the game the same way as other games, I think we approach the game saying we want to beat Nigeria.
“But as people say we’ve never beaten them, we listen to those people (and it affects our performance). We go on to the field thinking we want to give it our all but sometimes even if we give it our all it is very difficult to get a positive result against Nigeria.”
Khune and his teammates intend taking this match like any other this time, their minds focused solely on getting a good result and not improving Bafana’s record against the Super Eagles. And he, in particular, is relishing the prospect of taking on the revered Nigerians having missed out on those two drawn Afcon qualifiers.
“It’s overwhelming to be back in the mix, I think I missed wearing the Bafana colours and it is good to be back,” he said while mingling with fans and giving them tickets for the match at a mall in Mbombela.
“It’s going to be a great game, you can see the people are excited about it and we know Mbombela never disappoints. It is always full because people want to see their players giving it their all. This game is important for us ahead of the World Cup (and Nations Cup) qualifiers so we need to take it serious and get a positive result.”
That he is thinking World Cup already is because Khune foresees himself keeping the Bafana goals for a long time to come still, the threat of the likes of the man who is keeping him on the bench at Chiefs, Brilliant Khuzwayo, as well as Black Aces’ Jackson Mabokgwane notwithstanding.
“I know I’ve not been playing many games (for the club) but I think in the five I’ve played I’ve shown that I deserve to be back in the team (Bafana),” said the man who played the first half of Wednesday night’s 3-1 defeat of Swaziland.
“I mean age is still on my side and goalkeepers, you know, mature just like wine. You can play longer. There is (Iker) Casillas playing regularly for his club (Real Madrid) and country (Spain). And what can stop me from doing the same as Casillas. I can go on as far as 40 (years old) and still represent my country. I’ll keep giving my best as long as I’m in the squad.”
His best today will be needed to stop a Nigerian side eager not only to maintain their good record against South Africa but also to avenge the pain of their not qualifying for the Afcon earlier this year courtesy of failure to win against Baf-ana in two matches.