Pitso banks on Ngcongca

It’s been a champion season in every respect for Gugulethu’s finest, Anele Ngcongca. And now the Bafana Bafana right back is looking to finish on a high by helping South Africa take down the Pharaohs in Cairo on Sunday.

Of all Bafana’s promising young players, it is the 23-year-old Ngcongca who has emerged as arguably the finest prospect since making his senior international debut against Japan in a friendly in November 2009.

From there, he has become a regular in Pitso Mosimane’s side since the World Cup and part of a defence that has yet to concede a goal in 2012 Nations Cup qualifying.

He was also instrumental in an attacking sense in the home qualifier against Egypt at Ellis Park in March, his fine through ball in stoppage time allowing Katlego Mphela to blast Bafana to their first competitive victory over the Pharaohs.

And who is to say, of course, that it will not be Ngcongca himself who will again prove the decisive creator? The right back has also had his confidence boosted by a domestic season in which he won Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League with his club, KRC Genk.

“The confidence I have and got in Belgium, I am sharing with the guys in camp, and I think the spirit is high,” said Ngcongca.

Egypt’s defence was badly exposed by Bafana’s winner in Joburg, and Ngcongca believes the side can work on Egypt’s defensive weaknesses again in Cairo.

“Looking back at the game at Ellis Park, we picked up some weak points of Egypt,” he said. “Especially their pace; they are too slow at the back. It is one of our strongest points, that we have players capable of doing the job with pace up front.”

Perhaps with this in mind, Ngcongca says there is no way Bafana are going to Cairo to play for a draw, though a point would suit them nicely on the road to Equatorial Guinea/Gabon 2012.

“We all want to get maximum points. We are not going there to defend, to sit there and let them come at us,” he said.

“We are confident, the spirit is high. We are not worried about Egypt, we want to get the points there and we will go all out.”

Midfielder Steven Pienaar, meanwhile, looks unlikely to play after picking up a serious-looking knee injury in training yesterday.

He flew out with the rest of the Bafana squad last night and Mosimane said he would leave it to the last minute before deciding on his captain.

The Bafana coach has enjoyed great success in his early tenure at the helm of the national team, but has now challenged them to go even better and beat Egypt on home turf.

“This is the last game of the season and we have done well so far,” he said. “Results-wise it has been good and we have only lost one match (a 1-0 defeat in a friendly at home to the USA in November) and we have conceded only one goal.

“The rankings say we are doing the right things… the team are stable and full of harmony.

“We need to make our targets higher. We got a draw in Sierra Leone (in a qualifier in October) and won in Tanzania (in a friendly last month), but now we need to show we can win away in a competitive match against Egypt.

“Let’s see what they (Bafana) are capable of because it will be a real mental challenge.”