Anele Ngcongca was arguably the second-best right-back to play for Bafana Bafana after 1990s star Sizwe Motaung‚ his former national team captain Aaron Mokoena said.
Ngcongca died in a car crash on the N2 outside Mtunzini on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast on Monday. The 33-year-old was reportedly travelling to Durban to conclude a loan move from Mamelodi Sundowns to AmaZulu. He was not driving.
Mokoena said on Power 98.7’s Power Drive that a measure of 2010 Fifa World Cup teammate Ngcongca’s pedigree was that the right-back played in the Uefa Champions League and was teammates at KRC Genk with big-name Belgium internationals Kevin de Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois.
“It’s ... a sad day for all football-lovers. I’m really shocked — it hasn’t really sunk in yet‚” Mokoena said on the show.
“We have lost a talent. I was honoured to captain Anele. He never made my life difficult. One of the most honest players in a playing field.
“For me‚ I think after Sizwe Motaung he became the second-best right-back. I’ve played right-back and I knew that when Anele was playing he had my back‚ I had his back.”
The late Motaung, the 1990s Sundowns‚ Tenerife and St Gallen (Switzerland) star, was Bafana’s right-back when they won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil.