Ntshangase can live up to Hunt's praise

In the build-up to the Olympics, soccer writer NJABULO NGIDI profiles the players who will represent South Africa in Rio and MATSHELANE MAMABOLO reminisces on a member of the Class of 2000 who played in the same position.

Today they look at Phumlani Ntshangase and Abram Nteo.

Johannesburg - Compliments coming out of Gavin Hunt’s mouth are like a lunar eclipse, rare. But when they appear they are special. The hard-to-please Bidvest Wits coach described Phumlani Ntshangase as “one for the future, the kind of player we should be picking for the senior national team”.

Ntshangase was just 19 when Hunt said that, the youngster having beaten strong competition from veterans Tinashe Nengomasha and Matthew Pattison to become a regular at Wits.

What made his feat more remarkable was that he was playing in his debut season following promotion to the Clever Boys’ first team in January of 2014.

Two years on, he hasn’t made much of an impact in the senior national team because of strong competition in central midfield. He missed out on an opportunity to earn a few caps couple of caps via the backdoor when the national Under-23 team played in Bafana Bafana’s place during the Cosafa Cup as he was injured.

But he didn’t need that tournament as much as some of his teammates who were auditioning for a place in the 18-man squad Owen da Gama would take to the Olympics.

That’s because Ntshangase is a vital cog of the Under-23s, a fact he proved by keeping the midfield's shape during the Eight Nation continental tournament in Senegal where they earned their ticket to Rio.

With the defence shaky, Ntshangase was forced him to work extra hard defensively while also helping give the attack-minded players the freedom to go forward.

He had done just that for the Clever Boys in the Premiership to earn the league's Young Player of the Season award for the 2014/15 campaign. Last season he formed a solid partnership with Ben Motshwari at Wits, in what became one of the best central midfield pairings in the league.

Without Lebogang Phiri, he will have to play a starring role at the Olympics for the Under-23s when they start their campaign against Brazil on Thursday.It’s a big stage upon which he can hopefully take his game to the next level, just as the move from Umlazi to Johannesburg to join the Clever Boys in 2011 did.

It could have happened sooner than that because Wits wanted to sign him when he was 12. But the idea of a 12-year-old living almost 600km away from home alone didn’t sit well with his father.

He refused, but supported his football wherever he played in Durban because he would return home. It was only after his father passed away that his mother, in a bid to soothe his broken heart, agreed to allow Ntshangase to join Wits when he was 17.

He grew into a man in the process. Now the only thing missing is for him to fulfil Hunt’s words and make an impact in the senior national team after the Olympics.

Wire the grafterkey in Sydney

Without Patrick Mbuthu alongside him, Abram 'Wire' Nteo was forced to do most of the grafting in the first two matches at Sydney 2000.

It was a tall order, but he did it well. Although he appeared a little overawed as he did not display his usual confidence, the then Bloemfontein Celtic midfielder managed to keep Japanese superstar Hidetoshi Nakata quiet for much of the game.

He tackled superbly against Brazil and was still effective against Slovakia - although not efficient enough to help Amaglug-glug get the draw or victory that would have sent South Africa into the knockout stage.

With Quinton Fortune and Delron Buckley in the team at the Games, Nteo appeared to go into his shell - perhaps somewhat intimidated by the two big stars.

He was not his usual commanding self and was hardly seen directing his teammates as he had done in the qualifiers. Yet the fact that Nteo was a key cog in the team’s machinery was actually evident before the Olympics.

Early on in the qualifiers, Nteo and Mbuthu ran the heart of the midfield with aplomb. But when he missed three matches due to illness, the squad’s defence didn’t have someone who ensured that they worked less.

The team lacked a grafter, a player to do the donkey’s work in the centre of the park and cut off the opposition’s attacks before they got close to the danger area.

His career after the Olympics didn’t get the forward impetus his talent deserved as he remained at Celtic and only played a few times for Bafana Bafana.

After hanging up his boots, he ventured into coaching and has led both African Warriors and Royal Eagles.

The Star