Abednigo Valdez "Shaka" Ngcobo (10 May 1950 – 1 November 2014)Mark Gleeson
″Kaizer Chiefs legend Shaka Ngcobo dies.″
In:

Business Day (South Africa) ''Business Day'' is a national daily newspaper in South Africa, published weekdays (Monday to Friday) and also available as an e-paper. Based in Parktown, Johannesburg, it is edited by Alexander Parker and published by Arena Holdings, which i ...

, 3 November 2014. was a South African association football player who played in South Africa for Penarol,

Minnesota Kicks The Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL). Initia ...

Denver Dynamos The Denver Dynamos were a soccer team based in Denver that played in the NASL from 1974 to 1975. Their home field was Mile High Stadium. After the 1975 season, they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Kicks. History Between the 1973 and ...

and Kaizer Chiefs.

Club career

Ngcobo was born in Cato Manor near

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and started played amateur soccer at a young age for African Bush Rangers, Rand Koreans, Union Jacks. He later joined Zulu Royals and

African Wanderers African Wanderers is a South African professional football club, based in the Chatsworth township, which is a suburb of Durban in South Africa. The club currently play in the KwaZulu-Natal province of Vodacom League The ABC Motsepe League, p ...

in the new NPSL for blacks in 1971. In 1972, Ngcobo was recruited by Kaizer Chiefs' Ewert Nene when he scored 6 goals against them in a friendly match. In 1974, he won the league and the BP Top 8 and in the same season he scored a hat trick in a 7–1 win over Moroka Swallows. He left for

in 1975 after leading Chiefs to their first ever league title the previous season with Kaizer Motaung and

Patrick Ntsoelengoe Patrick Pule "Ace" Ntsoelengoe OIS (26 February 1952 – 8 May 2006) was a South African soccer player who is widely considered as one of the greatest the country has ever produced. Early life Ntsoelengoe was born to Daniel Ndimande and Marg ...

. Motaung scored seven goals that season, providing one assist, Ntsoelengoe scored five goals and four assists and Ngcobo netted five times, while delivering six assists. The following season, Ngcobo and Ntsoelengoe both moved to Minnesota Kicks. In 1976 where he won the Benson and Hedges Trophy, Sales House Cup and the BP Top 8 he set a new record of the fastest goal scored in 10 seconds in a 3–1 win over Moroka Swallows on 11 October 1976 in

Vosloorus Vosloorus is a large township situated south of Boksburg and just east of Katlehong in Ekurhuleni, just 30 kilometres south-east of Johannesburg, Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana la ...

. In February 1980, before being named the 1979 Footballer of Year, he scored against

Highlands Park Highlands Park Football Club was a South African professional soccer club who played in Modderfontein, Johannesburg. They were founded in 2003 as a phoenix club to the earlier Highlands Park F.C. (1959) and Highlands Park F.C. (1990) The c ...

in that famous Mainstay Cup Final replay and he scored a 13-minute hat-trick against Moroka Swallows. He went AWOL for trials in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

with Penarol organised by

Mario Tuani is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

along with Goodenough Nkomo upon returning he was fined R1000. He later played for Penarol being striker partners with young

Venancio Ramos Venancio Ariel Ramos Villanueva (born 20 June 1959) is a Uruguayan former football striker, who was nicknamed "Chicharra" during his professional career. Club career Ramos started his playing career in 1977 with Peñarol with whom he won severa ...

and

Fernando Morena Fernando Morena Belora (born 2 February 1952) is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a striker. His most known nicknames were "Nando"(abridged form of Fernando) and "Potrillo" (Colt, although young stallion is a better tran ...

. After suffering from niggling knee injuries later in his career, Valdez retired in December 1984.

International career

Ngcobo played for the ''SA Black XI'' in 1973 in a match against a team billed as ''the UK All Stars''. He played in a second match against another ''All Stars'' side in 1979, at the

Rand Stadium The Rand Stadium is a stadium in Rosettenville, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was set to be utilized as a training field for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup after being completely rebuilt and reopened in August 2008. D ...

Style of play

Former Marabastad Sundowns player and older brother of

Zane Moosa Zane Moosa (born 23 September 1968) is a South African former footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a midfielder. Moosa played club football in South Africa and Saudi Arabia for Wits University, Mamelodi Sundown ...

, Essop "Smiley" Moosa said " 'Shaka' had great speed and he was unbelievably strong. He could play both as a striker and as a winger, the last position being his best, I felt. He was also a fantastic goalscorer, he had a very educated left-foot, but he could score with both feet." Former Chiefs captain between 1975 and 1986, Ryder Mofokeng said "he could dribble past defenders, he could pass, he could cross and he could shoot. He was one of the best all-round strikers South Africa had."

After retirement

Ngcobo ran a taxi business in Alexandra and lived with his wife Khanyisile and his daughter.

Death

He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

at his home on 1 November 2014, after complaining of chest pains early that morning and died a few hours later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngcobo, Abednigo 1950 births 2014 deaths South African men's soccer players South African expatriate men's soccer players South African soccer managers Men's association football forwards Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Soccer players from Durban North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Minnesota Kicks players Denver Dynamos players South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Peñarol players Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay