The injury he picked up earlier in the year set his recovery process from an operation he underwent in May 2006 to repair a damaged rotator cuff in his shoulder some way back. Baron, who made a name for himself when he helped guide South Africa to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, was in goal when South Africa famously defeated Brazil at the games and did not give up and continued with the battle to regain full fitness.

There was a sense of victory for the former South Africa u-23 goalkeeper when he was given the nod to start for Chiefs in their opening league game of the current season, where he managed to keep a clean sheet and in the process earned Chiefs an opening day victory last Wednesday against Benoni Premier United.

As Chiefs prepare to play their second game of the season against Jomo Cosmos on Saturday, Baron is looking towards once more holding his goalmouth intact.

No shaky start

While Chiefs dominated last week's game against Benoni, Baron was called into action on three occasions in the match and made crucial saves which ensured that The Amakhosi were able to start off the season on a winning note.

Perhaps his most notable save came in the second last minute of the game, when he turned Loke’s goal-bound shot onto the post with Chiefs leading 1-0 at the time.

Emile said of last week’s game, “I really find it hard playing in games like the Benoni one for the mere fact that we dominate proceedings, which means that I get very little action. So keeping your concentration in a game when your attack is dominating the opposition is very difficult, you have to be on your guard because when they break on the counter they can catch you napping.”

Thankfully though Baron’s thoughts did not waiver and apart from his late save he made two earlier point blank saves from situations where Benoni thought they had scored.

Cosmos challenge

With Cosmos on the menu and given the fact that the opening minutes of this encounter is usually played at a high speed, (and taking into account that when the teams met last season Cosmos managed to storm into a 2-0 lead inside the opening quarter of the game), it would be wise for Baron to be fully prepared for Saturday’s game.

“We know what to expect from Cosmos, they're usually explosive and then they withdraw and go into a defensive shell. That kind of approach might confuse you and we need to from the start have the upper hand on them”.

Baron is hoping that Chiefs can avoid a repeat of last season's games against Cosmos where The Amakhosi dominated but were unable to win either of the games.

“We saw when we played them last season that when they scored against us it was not so much because they were dominating, they waited for our attacks to break down and quickly launched counter attacks. We have learned our past lessons and will be on our guard on Saturday, I think that we need to be patient and make sure that we do not put ourselves under pressure by giving away goals early on in the match”.

Rainer pleased

Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper coach Rainer Dinkelacker has stated that he has been pleased by the fact that Emile made a successful come back from the spate of injuries which threatened his career over the past 18 months.

“The character and quality of Emile shone through over the past year, he never gave up even though the odds were heavily stacked against him he came through and fought his way back to being at his fighting best”.

Dinkelacker believes Barons overall performance against Benoni was impressive and that coming through his first full competitive game without conceding a goal will have given Emile the perfect platform to build on for the rest of the season.

“He commanded his line well against Benoni, he judged the ball well from crosses and timed himself well when coming off the line and we could not have asked for a better start from him. The important thing is that Emile has found the momentum and he needs to keep going, he can only improve and get better from here”.