Barring any injury setbacks before the squad is announced, Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Richard Ofori is likely to be included in Ghana coach Otto Addo’s final 26-man squad for the football spectacle – which is just days from kick-off.

At the 2018 World Cup, it was only former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi (who was with Chippa United at the time) representing the league in the national colours of Nigeria.

Fans during the Carling Black Label Champion Cup match between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium on July 29, 2017 in Johannesburg. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Fans during the Carling Black Label Cup match between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium on July 27, 2019 in Johannesburg. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Of course, with South Africa failing to qualify for this latest World Cup, after not having played at the event (on merit) since competing in the 2002 edition, there was always going to be an imbalance in terms of the representatives of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) at the global showpiece.

According to Ofori though, Bafana’s failure to once again qualify for the prestigious tournament, as well as the fact he is the only player from the league who is likely to be at the tournament, are not indicators that the Premiership is below worldwide standards.

“The standard of football is high. Because [it is] South Africa, as a nation, that didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Not the PSL. If you compare our league to the European leagues, our league is at a high standard as well… The league is tough, very tough,” Ofori told journalists a few weeks ago.

Whether this is what he truly believes, or whether he was merely being diplomatic in his response, is known only to the 28-year-old Ghanaian shot-stopper. After all, this is his place of employment, his bread and butter.

More importantly, perhaps Ofori does not want to face the type of backlash suffered by Bafana Bafana’s Belgian coach Hugo Broos a few months ago.

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Speaking to journalists back in June – following South Africa’s defeat to Morocco in the opening round of their Africa Cup Nations (Afcon) qualification push – Broos provided an honest and candid opinion on the quality of the Premiership:

“We can look at the fantastic runs of [Mamelodi] Sundowns and [Orlando] Pirates in the Champions League and Confederation Cup. But Sundowns lost in the quarterfinal and Pirates lost the final. And who won? Moroccan teams, Wydad and Berkane.

“When I talk about quality, and you see that even in Morocco there was no player from those teams in the selection, except the goalkeeper, it tells enough,” the 70-year-old shared.

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“Therefore, let’s face the problem of South Africa… The problem is that the level of our PSL is not high enough. We don’t make players with high quality.”

After expressing these views Broos was heavily chastised and labelled as being disrespectful to South African football. He later had to apologise.

Broos has since chosen to keep such views to himself. At a recent press conference he responded to Daily Maverick’s question about the local league’s quality with a simple “no comment”. 

South Africa coach Hugo Broos greets players during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, qualifier match between South Africa and Zimbabwe at FNB Stadium on November 11, 2021 in Johannesburg. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

He had a point

However, objectively speaking, he made valid points in his controversial observations on the local league. 

The fact that in the Moroccan national team competition is so tight, and quality is so widespread that players plying their trade on home soil and helping their teams clinch continental titles are overlooked simply because there are better players in European leagues, speaks volumes indeed.

Those same locally based players in Morocco may soon land international deals to keep this conveyor belt of quality in motion.

In contrast, South Africa’s top-flight hasn’t produced a global superstar in the mould of players such as Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar, Lucas Radebe and Sibusiso Zuma in a couple of decades.    

Former Sundowns forward Percy Tau is the closest the league has come to churning out a player on that level.

Percy Tau of South Africa during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier match between South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on November 16, 2020 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. (Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

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Even in his case, he did not quite stamp his authority in the Brighton first team and truly make his mark during his time in the English Premier League. Though he did make a bit of a splash while playing in Belgium, on loan from his parent club.

He has since departed England and is now at Al Ahly in Egypt, where he has once again struggled to shine in the same way he did while playing in the South African top-flight. 

That the South African Premiership is one of the leagues at the forefront on the continent in terms of infrastructure and financial investment is not debatable.

Nevertheless, it has become less and less of a desirable destination for footballers around the continent who wish to use it as a stepping stone for securing European moves. DM