Ngcongca pushing for Europa progress 2013-11-28 FOLLOWING Thulani Sereros heroics with Ajax Amsterdam against Barcelona on Tuesday, three more South Africans will be hoping to guide their teams to victories in European competition tonight . The Europa League group stages are reaching the business end, with progress or elimination now possible with just two rounds of matches left. Anele Ngcongca can help his Genk side secure their place in the next round with a home win over Ukraine side Dinamo Kiev. Genk top Group H with eight points, one ahead of Dinamo and five in front of Rapid Vienna. Even a defeat would see them advance to the knockout stages if FC Thun and Rapid draw their fixture in Vienna. Genk secured a remarkable win in Kiev earlier in the competition, which has put them in a strong position in the pool, but they are coming off a shock 4-0 loss to strugglers Oostende in the Belgian league this past weekend. Playing for Thun should be South African-born centre-back Lukas Schenkel, who has been in and out of the Swiss side this season but featured in their Europa League games more often than not. They too lost in the league this past weekend, going down 4-1 to FC Basel. They need a win in Austria to keep their knockout stage hopes alive. The other South African in action tonight is Dino Ndlovu, who has been unable to find his rich scoring form of last season, but is at least seeing more game time at Israeli side Maccabi Haifa. They are currently second in their Europa League pool, two points behind leaders Eintracht Frankfurt from Germany but three ahead of Cypriot side APOEL in third. They are away in Cyprus tonight, where a win will put them into the next round.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 07:26:42 +0000