The rise of Sipho Chaine into establishing himself as the solid first-choice option at Orlando Pirates has come with Bafana Bafana still without a settled second to Ronwen Williams.
Chaine is now standing as the first choice at Pirates having fought his way to the front of the queue since arriving at the club in September 2022 from Chippa United.
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His arrival came with Richard Ofori battling injury and blunder demons, Wayne Sandilands was on his way out, while Siyabonga Mpontshane was past his best.
So, with the opportunity there for the taking, Chaine raised his hand and grabbed his chance when it came with the first game of the 2023 calendar year.
His count was 21 consecutive appearances at the end of his first season, putting both Ofori and Mpontshane behind him.
Impressive.
Chaine didn't look back in his second season at Pirates and had played 29 games despite missing a sizeable portion of league matches.
This contributed to the club finding no need to keep Ofori and Mpontshane.
If his first and second seasons were good and better, then his third has been the best having played every minute in all 15 games to date across all competitions.
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Nine clean sheets have meant Hugo Broos has taken notice, and Chaine now joins Sage Stephens and Ricardo Goss in the queue behind Williams in the Bafana squad.
The three years that he spent in the first team waiting for his break at Bloemfontein Celtic are all paying dividends now.