On 12 June 2006, in Hannover, the Black Stars played Ghana’s first ever FIFA World Cup finals game against eventual competition winners Italy.

Richard “Olele” Kingson, 27 by then , was in goal for Ghana and his opposite number was a certain 28-year old Gialuigi Buffon for the Europeans.

But after twelves years and the World Cup trophy won, Buffon, now 40, is the number goalkeeper for French giants PSG whereas Kingson, born in 1978, retired from the game in 2015 and is current Black Stars goalkeepers trainer .

Why? Couldn’t he have continued like Buffon has done?

“It’s like they (Ghanaians) are now blaming themselves but I don’t blame them,” Kingson told Starr FM sometime past.

“Ghanaians don’t look at your performance, they only consider where you come from, your age and that leads to retirement but age is just a number” he added.

Yes age is just a number and Buffon is a testament to this statement but did Olele give up to public criticisms when he still had a lot of goalkeeping in him?

“Sometimes, when we [the retired players] go and play in [fun games], some people come and say Richard you are still strong, you can still play for the national team but I say no, I’ve stopped.” he added.

Gianluigi Buffon has granted an interview to France Football, to be published in full on Tuesday.

The former goalkeeper of Juventus Turin  notably mentioned his reception within the PSG group.

“I had no idea how other players perceived me and I even felt a little apprehensive. After forty years in Italy, it is never easy to change one’s life and environment overnight. Sometimes we end up building a comfort zone and either by fear or by laziness, we refuse to leave because the novelty is always scary. Yet, I am the complete opposite of that. I like to put myself in danger, I am a beast of competition, I like to progress, I like to face the difficulties and to understand what must be done to be able to overcome them. ”

In this interview, the 40-year-old goalkeeper also talks about his career. And he feels a progression at home over the years.

“Deep down, I feel better than five, six or seven years ago. I can not say why. Maybe because I changed my approach a bit in the work. After, at my age, everything is a question of envy and motivation. “.

Do you think the former Ghana number Kingson would still have been a good goalkeeper at his current age?