Ngcongca ready to make up for lost time

Anele Ngcongca is looking forward to playing in the PSL and using his vast experience of European football to add to Sundowns' successes. Photo: Barry Aldworth/BackPagePix

Anele Ngcongca is looking forward to playing in the PSL and using his vast experience of European football to add to Sundowns' successes. Photo: Barry Aldworth/BackPagePix

Published Feb 7, 2017

Share

PRETORIA - If you think that the six-week wait for the return of domestic football has been long, then imagine how Anele Ngcongca feels after waiting six months to make his Mamelodi Sundowns debut. The 29-year-old arrived at Chloorkop in August last year nursing a knee injury, and that kept him out of action in the Brazilians’ finest hour.

Ngcongca limped to Alexandria, flying with the team in crutches, to watch his teammates lift the Caf Champions League trophy. By the time Sundowns played in the Fifa Club World Cup in December, he was used to watching his teammates instead of being on the field.

“Every player wants to be on the field,” Ngcongca said. “I got injured at the wrong time, joining a new club. It was painful watching the guys from the stands. I wished that I was playing with them. I supported them. Now we are trying to defend the league together.

"A team like Sundowns has quality players in all departments. I have to fight for my position. But I bring experience from Europe.

"When I came home, I told myself that I am coming here to be consistent, help Sundowns and share my experience of playing in Europe for 10 years. I want to get back to the level I was in 2010.”

Back then, Ngcongca was at the peak of his career. He started every match in Genk’s Belgian league winning season in 2010-11.

He will look to do something similar for Sundowns in what will be a hectic year that will see the Brazilians fight for the Caf Super Cup and the Nedbank Cup, while trying to remain African and South African champions.

Ngcongca feels like a new signing for Sundowns, solving a right back problem that the club has struggled to fix. Siyanda Zwane and Asavela Mbekile have shared the position after the departure of Ramahlwe Mphahlele, who was moved there from centre back.

Recently, coach Pitso Mosimane experimented with winger Thapelo Morena. That too didn’t work out and should see Ngcongca make his debut on Wednesday against Bloemfontein Celtic at the Dr Molemela Stadium.

It will be the first time that Ngcongca plays in the PSL. He left as an NFD player in 2007 to join Genk. He had a successful stay in Belgium and was named in the club’s team of the century.

“It wasn’t easy to come back home. I gave it a lot of thought. I had played at Genk for nine seasons (one of those seasons was on loan to Troyes in France).

"When we came back from the holidays, Genk announced that they had hired a new coach, Peter Maes. We didn’t see eye-to-eye.

"The other decision that made me to come back is my mom. She wasn’t feeling well. There was also my six-year-old daughter who hasn’t been with me for a long time. Age isn’t also on my side. I am not getting any younger.

"But at the end of the day, it was a decision that came from the heart. I chose Sundowns because I had worked with the coach at Bafana Bafana. He understands me and I know his philosophy of the game.

"I knew that my family will be happy to see me playing because my mom saw me only once playing for Genk. Now she will have all the time to see me in action.”

Ngcongca is among a few local players in the last decade to go to Europe and stay there for five years or more. He believes he was able to spend close to a decade abroad, because of the mentorship he received from Quinton Fortune.

The former Manchester United midfielder helped Ngcongca settle in Belgium. The defender from Cape Town believes that if South African players had mentors upon arrival in Europe, they could stay longer and make a bigger impact.

“That’s what is lacking in our game,” Ngcongca said. “If you look at countries like Ivory Coast, a number of their players are groomed in the youth set-up of (Koninklijke Sportkring) Beverin in Belgium. The likes of Yaya Toure and Gervinho started there, were mentored and went to bigger things. That’s what we need here in South Africa.

"We mustn’t go abroad for the sake of going there. We must go there to raise our flag, stay there longer than one or two years. If you can play there for 10 years or more, a good example is Benni McCarthy who stayed in Europe a long time and then came back to share his experience with players who want to go abroad.”

The Star

Related Topics: