Goalkeeping crisis looming: Arendse

Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Andre Arendse, has raised concern over the lack of South African first-choice goalkeepers in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).

Arendse has also bemoaned how the foreign goalkeepers in the league are not first choice keepers in their native countries.

Currently, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Ronwen Williams who is already 33, is head and shoulders above the keepers playing in the country, and arguably, even in Africa.

According to the 1996 AFCON winner, the youngest regular goalkeeper in the country is Orlando Pirates’ Sipho Chaine.

“I don’t know if I’ve got to be careful how I say this, but I say it with all good intent – the problem we face at the moment is, and please somebody correct me if I’m wrong, that nine of our PSL clubs have foreign first-choice goalkeepers, for example,” said Arendse.

“And that is no disrespect to foreign goalkeepers because I think they do add value to our game, but it is a problem for us as a local South Africa because we’re not placing a serious enough focus on developing young goalkeepers coming through. Our youngest local goalkeeper playing in the PSL at the moment – I stand corrected – is maybe Sipho Chaine, and I think he’s 28-29, it’s not good enough,” adds the former Bafana Bafana goalie.

“Where are our 20-year-olds? Where are our 21-year-olds, who are playing first team football for their clubs? So that speaks to a proper lack of development from a goalkeeping perspective.”

The SuperSport United assistant coach has, however, revealed that he and his colleague, Grant Johnson, are working on a solution to the problem. Written by Ntsako Mkhari