Richard Ofori has found himself retaining his relevance in the Black Stars squad despite a stressful battle for minutes at Orlando Pirates with the AFCON finals approaching.
Ofori is yet to play in the DStv Premiership this season, didn't play in the Carling Cup, and MTN8 with his 181 minutes spread over three appearances having come in the CAF Champions League.
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Sipho Chaine has had the most minutes between the posts at Pirates with Melusi Buthelezi then taking over in the last six games which means Ofori is third choice with Siyabonga Mpontshane at fourth choice.
Despite all this, Ofori has been retained by Chris Hughton for the World Cup qualifiers against Madagascar and Comoros while holding on hope to that he will also be in the AFCON finals squad in January.
The other keepers available for Black Stars are Lwarence Ati-Zigi who is first choice at Swiss club St. Gallen while Joe Wollacott has just recently returned from injury at Scottish club Hibernian FC.
Abdul Manuf Nurudeen is also struggling at KAS Eupen in Belgium with Ibrahim Danlad (20) now already playing as captain at Asante Kotoko.
While he is battling to play at Pirates, Ofori remains popular in Ghana as was evidenced by the applause he got when he returned to the national team in September after a year out.
Ofori came on as a substitute with an hour played replacing the Belgium based Abdul Manaf Nurudeen in the 3-1 international friendly win over Liberia.
Fans inside the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra showed their appreciation with loud cheers for the Pirates keeper.
Ofori joined Pirates at the beginning of the 2020/21 season with huge expectations on his shoulders, but his stay has been littered with mistakes and injuries forcing the club to make goalkeeper signings in Chaine and Melusi Buthelezi in consecutive seasons.
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Last season (2022/23), Ofori played 13 games with his injury opening the gap for Sipho Chaine who has grabbed the chance with both hands.
As it stands, Ofori has now missed 90 games through the three years that he has spent at Pirates.
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