Former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Innocent Mayoyo doesn’t think it was a bad decision for the club to play Richard Ofori in the MTN8 final against AmaZulu despite not being fully fit.

Before the final, Ofori declared himself ready to play after recovering from a knee injury but went on to aggravate it and that cost him a place in Ghana’s Fifa World Cup squad.

His withdrawal has also cost Pirates a lot of money as they stood to benefit from Fifa's $10,000 (R172,000) daily allowance paid to clubs for every player taking part in the event in Qatar.

But Mayoyo says people must respect the coach’s decision to play Ofori in the final where the Buccaneers won 1-0 with him having a good game.

“At the end, we need to respect the decision of the coach because players don’t play for themselves and they don’t put themselves in the starting line-up,” Mayoyo told Sowetan yesterday.

“So, we can’t take it to him and we can’t answer if it was a good idea to play in that final or not, I think the decision still lies with the coach. At the end of the day, when we look at the cup final, it worked for them and I think that was the plan for the coach to win the match.”

Mayoyo added that Ofori was right to put Pirates first before the World Cup with Ghana as he is contracted to the club.

“As a player, you will always be looking at the next game more than anything else. As a player you can’t be saving yourselves for certain tournaments more than doing the task at hand,” he said.

“At the end, he is contracted to Pirates, that's where his bread and butter are. So, his priority should be Pirates.”

Ofori’s absence is another huge blow to Ghana’s goalkeeper department, with first-choice goalkeeper Joe Wollacott also ruled out of the competition with a finger injury.

Ghana play their first match against Portugal next Thursday and should they proceed to the next stage, they will stay in Qatar for more than two weeks, meaning Pirates stood to get more than R2,4m had Ofori played in the first round.