Posted in News on Sep 07, 2006.
With him now working fulltime for Chiefs it means that he is able to better focus on the goalkeepers at the club, as he will be here for a season. It also means that he gets to spend less time with his family. On the rare occasion that he does get to see them he will try to spend as much time with them as is possible.
Rainer spoke to KC.COM about Itumeleng Khune and Rowen Fernandez performance with the national under 23 and Bafana Bafana respectively over the past weekend, as well as the progress he has made since July with the keepers.
KC.COM: Rainer you strengthened your long-standing relationship with Chiefs at the beginning of July by agreeing to a deal which will see you spend a full season at the club.
Rainer Dinkelacker: Personally I felt it was the best thing that I could have done by making my job at Chiefs a full time one. Being here full time has really paid dividends for me. I have not been able to dwell much on the fact that I was now here full time because I came in as the pre-season started. We immediately began working very hard in going through the motions of the pre-season.
KC.COM: You came back to Chiefs with some new ideas using various techniques to get the keepers in better shape. Talk us through some of the changes and how the keepers have benefited from these?
RD: Just prior to my return I had a number of discussions with keeper coaches from Bundesliga teams such as VFB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich and we shared our thoughts. They gave me advice on many areas where I was able to further develop myself. In soccer you need to share ideas with those who are perhaps more experienced and I spent time on the training ground with each of the guys and I picked new ideas from each one of them.
One area where I felt that we needed improvement was on the strength of the keepers. Many of the new methods I have introduced have helped us build the strength of the keepers and if you notice now you will see that they are able to kick further, throw further and punch the ball further. We worked on strengthening them in certain areas physically so that they could be stronger and more effective especially with regards to ball distribution, also being agile and quicker through the air.
KC.COM: What did you think of Rowen Fernandez's performance for Bafana Bafana against Congo this past weekend?
RD: I felt that he put in the kind of performance that was expected of him. Rowen has reached a stage in his career whereby he has set a high standard for himself and once you have analyzed the opposition you can decipher what kind of performance to expect from him. Against Congo he was tested early on from a free-kick and he dealt with it easily, which helped him settle and he was able to deal with whatever they threw at him. He made two saves late on from long distance shots, Rowen has this ability to make difficult saves look very simple and he did that in the latter stages against Congo.
KC.COM: What of Itumeleng Khune’s display for the national under-23 team in an Olympic qualifier against Namibia on Sunday?
RD: If I have one thing that I would like him to do for me is to concentrate on a game for the full 90 minutes. There was one chance that Namibia had and he was left ball watching as they hit the post. Anyhow he survived it and seemed to lift his game from then onwards and over all he did well and also made some goods saves in the latter stages of the game.
What we should understand about Itumeleng is that he is only nineteen years old and he is playing in the under twenty-three team, with more games he will improve and continue developing as a player. Overall he did a good job on Sunday and we will continue to work with him and make sure that he is able to continue playing for both the national under-20 and under-23 teams.
KC.COM: Now that you have a full time position at Chiefs, do you find that you have been able to achieve much more with the keepers?
RD: It was always my desire to spend more time here because that is the only way I felt that perhaps I could build a stronger bond with the keepers. It is more beneficial for us to focus on one specific project - having too many things on your mind does not allow you to concentrate properly on one task.
Being here full time has really been fulfilling simply because some of the short-term objectives I set with the guys have been reached. One of which was in conjunction with Rowen Fernandez he wanted to find shape and form fairly quickly after the off-season break. We achieved that fairly quickly by pushing really hard and it showed with his match winning performances in the Vodacom Challenge. The next step was for him to get back into the national team, which with continued hard work and some good displays for us he got back into the Bafana Bafana team.
KC.COM: There is also Emile Baron in the picture, how is his recovery process going?
RD: At the moment Emile has been working out mainly in the gym and doing strength training in order to get back the full use of his shoulder. The physiotherapist has indicated that within the next six weeks he could perhaps start training, I think everyone is aware of Emile’s abilities as a goalkeeper and he will definitely add to the competition amongst the group. Obviously it will take him time to get into the groove and get himself up to the level of the other keepers but once he is fit he will strongly challenge for a place in the starting line-up.
KC.COM: Thank you for your time Rainer. We will end with one final question, while your wife was in the country did you get to spend much time with her?
RD: The good thing was that her recent visit to the country coincided with the visit of Frank Eulberg’s wife. While we were at training and games she had company and could socialize with Frank's wife and daughter. The other thing is that we were starting our league campaign when she was here and we were working extra hard during that week but I did find time for some sightseeing. It was good to have her around for a few weeks - we have a break over December and January and I will go back to Germany.
