Ghana defender Harrison Afful is looking to regain enough fitness in order to make his Columbus Crew debut on Thursday.

The 29-year-old has been training on his own with fitness coaches since arriving at the club last month as a free agent.

Afful travelled with the team for their last league match at Colorado but did not make the match day squad.

Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter revealed the Ghana international needed time to be fit enough for first team duties.

And the left-back has accepted this challenge and is hoping for be fully fit when Crew hosts New York City on Thursday.

“I’m getting my fitness back,” he said.

“I’ve been working a lot; so far, so good. So I’m just praying and hoping that I’ll make my debut on Thursday.”