From Hammanskraal to the Holland, Abram Ngcobo shares his story
Coming from a small town in the northern parts of Joburg – Hammanskraal, Abram has learnt a lot on his way to making it to the first team of Mamelodi Sundowns.
Abrams storey between the posts starts in Grade 5 when his school team was in need of a keeper after a no show, playing back then as a right-back and captain A brave young Abram stepped up to the plate “Our keeper did not show up that day, so I took the number 1 jersey, everything went well I stopped a lot of shots and after the game, my coach said you did well why don’t you be a goalkeeper?”
There was no looking back and after a couple of years of hard work a 16-year-old Abram got a break and the young keeper joined The Brazilians’ academy in 2013 under the watchful eye of club legend Godfrey Sapula.
It didn’t take long for Abram to start collecting some silverware with The Brazilians, the young keeper was part of the team that clinched the MDC League title in 2017 and qualified for the MultiChoice International Challenge trophy, a tournament that they would later go on and win, beating Japanese side Ichifuna FC 1-0, Abram attributes these wins to “having a good group of players”
Abram has since graduated from the MDC to now training with the first team with the likes of Denis Onyango, Kennedy Mweene and Reyaad Pieters. With all this experience Abram has learnt some valuable lessons when asked what these were the youngster had this to say “I’ve learnt through the years you have to to be patient and disciplined when it’s your time it’s your time, don’t try and control the system, you need to follow the protocols and listen to what people tell you also have to be strong and you have to wait for your time”
He ends off with telling us what it takes to be a footballer at the highest level “What I’ve learnt the most is that you have to be professional, that means you have to look after yourself, play your part in the team, this isn’t easy it’s a different life most and importantly you have to be responsible”
