As the Amakhosi complete their morning training session on a Thursday it is usually followed by an open media day where by members of the media are given access to interview players, coaches and other technical staff members.

Whenever coach Ernst Middendorp reads out the interview requests more often than not the usual suspects make the list as the various television stations, newspapers and magazines clamour for that exclusive bit of information which will please the editor and add an extra few sales to the register.

For the most, young goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune goes unnoticed by the gathered media as he usually rounds up the balls at the end of training and returns them along with other equipment that was used in the training session to the kit manager. Khune is entrusted with this responsibility out of tradition whereby the younger players in the team carry out such duties, with time and the years on his side at eighteen years of age he has a very bright future with Chiefs.

For anyone wishing to ignore Khune’s steady climb to the top one would do so at his own peril. Originally promoted to train with the first team two seasons ago at the age of sixteen, the young goalkeeper has used working with the likes of Brian Baloyi, Rowen Fernandez and Emile Baron to his advantage. It has been the high standards that he set for himself that has helped Khune find himself playing concurrently in the national u-20 and u-23 teams, a position he is more than happy to be in. As he explains “playing with the u-20’s and U23 national teams has really been good for me and playing for two national teams has not been very difficult either”.

Khune kept a clean sheet this past Sunday as Amajita trashed their Mozambican counterparts 4-0 in Nelspruit, a game in which three more players from Chiefs junior ranks were involved in. “After the game against Mozambique, I felt really good because the team played well and I felt that I had a good game. I was also happy for the other Chiefs players who all played exceptionally well,” Khune said after the game.

The young goal minder has also laid praise at the hands of his more experienced mentors at Chiefs “training with two exceptional goalkeepers like Rowen and Emile helps me perform at a level I was unaware I could compete at - I owe them a lot of thanks as well as Rainer, our old goalkeeper coach and the new guy Manfred”.

With time on his hands and plenty to play for ,Khune has set his sights on 2010 but prefers to lay his eyes on issues closer to the present time. "My aim is to get into the u-20 national team to Gabon for next year’s African Youth Championships, and then go to the FIFA World Youth Championships later next year. My next step will be to go to China for the Olympic games with the u-23 team and then my focus will be on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I will take one game at a time and hopefully within four years I will get to my destination," he says.

As the sands of time fall through the hourglass, Khune’s abilities will improve and he will rise from strength to strength. Khune is following in a proud goalkeeping tradition of Chiefs goalkeepers in national youth teams as he steps into a path mapped out by Brian Baloyi, Rowen Fernandez and Emile Baron.