Bafana Bafana and FCSB defender Siyabonga Ngezana has lauded the ability and potential of his defensive partner Mbekezeli Mbokazi who has been one of the standout players at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The 20-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise from amateur football to the AFCON in the last three years and has earned a $3-million transfer to Major League Soccer (MLS) side Chicago Fire.
While Hugo Broos stated it was a premature move due to his incredible potential, Ngezana has weighed in on the player who is starting to form an impressive understanding with the towering centre-back.
“I would say players like ‘TLB’ makes your job easier and it’s his time to shine, obviously I’m there also to apply a little bit of experience of what I know in football and try to manage, the most important thing is to win games as a team,” he said.
“We have many youngsters with not much experience at AFCON, maybe 12 players who have never played AFCON, it’s exciting and all of us are looking forward to gain experience with minutes, and we’re excited… it’s different [level]. It’s high tempo until the last minute.
“It’s a big tournament and playing AFCON, it comes with a lot of pressure, especially playing for South Africa – the last group played until third place [finish] so it’s a challenge for us to try and finish better as a new group, with new players. We need to try and go as far as we can as a team, if not win it, going as far as we can as a team.”
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