Itumeleng Khune, who was the no.1 goalkeeper for Bafana Bafana during the FIFA Confederations Cup hopes to reclaim the no.1 jersey for Bafana Bafana ahead of the World Cup in June. He was forced to watch from the sidelines for three months after injuring his finger early in the season and when he came back late November he was sent off in the last game of the year against AmaZulu.

Vladimir Vermezovic showed faith in him as he recalled Khune for the game against Aces last Wednesday and the Bafana Bafana star repaid the faith shown by his coach by keeping a clean sheet against Orlando Pirates and Aces on Wednesday.

“Khune is without a doubt the best goalkeeper in the country. I am not saying this because he stopped the two penalties tonight (Wednesday) but you can see that he puts lot of effort in his game. However, it is not for me to decide who should be the no.1 for Bafana Bafana but for the national team coach,” said the Serbian clearly not wanting to be drawn into the debate about the Bafana Bafana jersey.

The Serbian went on to pay tribute to goalkeeper coach Rainer Dinkelacker for the fantastic work he has done with the goalkeepers this season, “In Rainer we have a credible goalkeeper coach who has done a commendable job on all our goalkeepers this season. I cannot talk about what he did last season as I was not here but during my time here he has done a very good job,”

“Khune is at his best because he is surrounded by a good team of goalkeepers. Arthur Bartman also pushed him hard for the no.1 jersey in the team. His experience helped the younger goalkeepers like Thela Ngobeni and Kabelo Metsimetsi,” added Vermezovic.