For all the time that Fiacre Ntwari has spent biting his nails between the bench and the stands at Kaizer Chiefs, he is riding on his lucky charm on the international scene.
Ntwari has had it rough at Chiefs over the last 10 months after his demotion from first choice but will still get his game-time dosage on the international stage during the next FIFA calendar dates.
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The 25-year-old arrived from TS Galaxy at the beginning of last season and was the preferred option in the beginning, playing the first seven games of the 2024/25 season.
Unfortunately, with the Soweto giants’ form not being the best at the time, he conceded 11 goals and only managed to keep a single clean sheet.
He took a share of fingers of blame being pointed in his direction and was then dropped after the 4-0 hammering by Mamelodi Sundowns two days into November last year.
What then followed was a line of frustrations between the bench and the stands until the end of the season with Bruce Bvuma dominant, while Brandon Petersen provided cover.
Then, into the new season and with all the speculation around his departure having yielded no move to date, Ntwari has started the new campaign on the bench as Petersen shines.
While there could have been justified calls for him to be dropped from the Rwandan national team after 10 months of no club minutes, he has retained his place, just like he has done since his last appearance for Chiefs.
Ntwari has played all six matches for Rwanda since his last official minutes for Amakhosi.
Ahead of games against Nigeria and Zimbabwe in the World Cup, has been called up and his performances will be of interest with Bafana Bafana in the same group.
Bafana lead the group with 13 points, while Rwanda are second on eight, Benin third, and Nigeria fourth, then Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
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If Ntwari can play a role in making sure that Nigeria don’t get their first three points of the campaign at home on September 6, it will be all to Bafana’s benefit.
Rwanda play the Super Eagles in Uyo before they travel to Johannesburg, where Zimbabwe will be waiting at Orlando Stadium on September 9.
Photo: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images
