As Kaizer Chiefs roll into Cape Town tonight to face Stellenbosch FC (kick-off 7.30pm), the spotlight will be firmly on the two goalkeepers in this crunch Premiership encounter at Athlone Stadium.
At a time when Chiefs have come under great scrutiny due to their slow start to the new season, their goalkeeper – and captain – Brandon Petersen has only added fuel to the fire.
Petersen’s displays have been erratic, to say the least – swinging wildly from sublime saves to horrendous individual errors against both champions Mamelodi Sundowns and TS Galaxy, with the latter being an own goal that cost Amakhosi dearly.
The Amakhosi faithful are unforgiving, especially with club legend Itumeleng Khune still part of the Chiefs squad and waiting for a chance off the bench.
Ironically, former Amakhosi coach Arthur Zwane turned to Khune for last season’s MTN8 quarter-final tie against Stellies at the Danie Craven Stadium, with the veteran turning back the clock to deliver a superb display with a couple of heroic saves in the penalty shoot-out to help his team advance to the semi-finals.
It is unlikely that new Chiefs mentor Molefi Ntseki will revert to Khune, as he is fully behind his skipper Petersen, especially after the 28-year-old kept a clean sheet in their previous match against AmaZulu for Chiefs’ first victory of the season.
“When you look at his ability as a goalkeeper, he has done very well for the team ... even in the past few games, but the concentration levels were a bit down,” Ntseki told the media.
“It is not only him that made mistakes that led us to lose the game (against Galaxy), I think it’s the whole team.
“If you look at it, it’s a series of mistakes that led him to make the last mistake, that we normally look at to be his mistake.
“He has been in the game for some time now.
“As coaches, we need to be there for the players.
“This is what we are doing to help him understand that mistakes like this will always be costly but these are mistakes that we have to eliminate in our game.
“Also, when it comes to Itumeleng Khune, something very important is that we have four goalkeepers and all of them are competing for the first position in the team.
“When one makes a mistake, you don’t just make changes without zooming into the problem and helping out with the problem.
“You might make changes emotionally. What if the next player makes the same mistake?
“What is important here is that we’re a professional team, and we’re also treating our players as professionals.”
Stellenbosch coach Steve Barker, meanwhile, has similar goalkeeper issues facing him ahead of the much-anticipated clash with Amakhosi.
Regular keeper Sage Stephens is currently nursing an injury, which forced the Stellies No 1 to miss the 3-1 victory over Royal AM and last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to SuperSport United.
Barker called on 36-year-old shot-stopper Lee Langeveldt to mind the goal in Pietermaritzburg, before handing 2017 Puskas award nominee Oscarine Masuluke a first start against Matsatsantsa.
Masuluke, who was signed from Baroka on a three-year-deal before the start of the season, endured an indifferent debut.
The 30-year-old produced a couple of excellent blocks but also conceded a penalty and could not parry a free-kick to safety, which allowed SuperSport’s Grant Margeman to tuck away the winner.