Rustenburg – Anele Ngcongca has been ruled out with a knee injury and will not be part of South Africa’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Congo-Brazzaville, coach Shakes Mashaba said in Rustenburg on Tuesday.
“We got an email from his club team yesterday informing us that he’s injured. We’re waiting for them to take him for a scan,” Mashaba said.
“They’ll send us the report, but he’s not going to be with us.”
Ngcongca, who plays for Belgian club KRC Genk, was expected to arrive along with four other overseas-based players late Monday evening, but he was not present at Tuesday morning’s training session at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus.
Thulani Serero, Andile Jali, Tokelo Rantie and Dean Furman had all arrived safely and were in camp, however, they did not take part in the first training session of the day, after only arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Mashaba said the quartet would take part later in the day.
Ngcongca, who played a full 90 minutes for Genk in a goalless draw against Anderlecht on Sunday, was the second player to withdraw from the original squad of 26. News of his injury followed the withdrawal on Monday of Ayabulela Magqwaka who suffered a calf strain.
Mashaba had said he would not be calling up a replacement for Magqwaka, but with Ngcongca also absent, the coach said he would now be forced to consider a replacement.
“We’re considering (replacements), just to make sure that we don’t run short. It’s not a train smash, we expected this,” Mashaba said.
“We can’t give names until we have notified the clubs.”
Bafana Bafana depart on Thursday afternoon for Point-Noire, the Republic of Congo's second largest city after its capital Brazzaville. They return to South Africa on Sunday, ahead of next week's return fixture against the Red Devils in Polokwane. – Sapa