South Africa’s No 1 goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune has called on his Kaizer Chiefs teammates to step up and extricate the club from the hole they have dug themselves in.
Amakhosi have gone two seasons without silverware‚ a rare occurrence for the most successful club in South African history.
The Soweto giants want to change that in their 2017-2018 campaign — a make-or-break season for head coach Steve Komphela.
The beleaguered Komphela has constantly shielded his players from the ire of the fans‚ preferring to take the heat himself.
“It’s unfair for the coach to put the blame solely on himself‚” Khune, who is team captain, said. “We ’re all in the same boat. We all have to shoulder the blame because we, the players on the field‚ aren’t delivering.
“It’s about time that we stepped up and made our fans happy. The past two seasons haven’t been our seasons. We are looking forward to this season. We want to reclaim our glory.
“The only way to turn things around is to perform to the best of our abilities. The coaches prepare us well but sometimes we lose concentration in the last minute of the game.”
That loss of concentration towards the end of matches cost Chiefs dearly last season. They dropped out of the league race because of goals conceded late in the game. To prevent that‚ Amakhosi strengthened their defence by signing Teenage Hadebe from Zimbabwe.
The club will discover how competitive they are in the Carling Black Label Champion Cup against arch-rivals Orlando Pirates at FNB Stadium on Saturday.
Chiefs won the pre-season friendly last season‚ and it was the only silverware they celebrated in a miserable campaign.
Khune said: “Two seasons without a trophy has been a bitter pill to swallow. This hasn’t happened before in my time with the club. We’re the ones who put ourselves in all this.”
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 