It means the 28-year-old, who had been a regular starter through the World Cup qualifiers and 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals campaign, has played only 14 minutes of football since January 29.
That makes him a highly unlikely pick for Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos, who puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that players must be getting minutes to be in his plans for the tournament.
It will be a blow in terms of experience at the highest level, with the former Kaizer Chiefs defender having played in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League with the Bucharest club.
Bafana have options to replace him, but they are green at international level.
Even flavour of the month Mbekezeli Mbokazi only has 10 international caps, though he is a shoo-in to start against Mexico on June 11.
It is likely his former Orlando Pirates teammate Nkosinathi Sibisi (20 caps) will be next to him as they at least have an understanding, but it is two pretty short centre-backs in that instance. Both are listed as 1.77 metres (5ft 8in), which is not ideal at all. Ngezana is 1.88m.
That might bring in Mamelodi Sundowns’ Khulumani Ndamane (5 caps) or Ime Okon (7 caps), who plays for Hannover 96 in the German Bundesliga II. Both are over 6ft, with Okon at 1.87m.
He is pushing for promotion with his club this season and has been a stalwart throughout for them.
But ideally, Broos would have wanted to go into the tournament with two centre-backs with 40-plus caps under their belt.
It could end up being a soft underbelly for Bafana, with Broos’ ideal partnership likely the one he had at the Cup of Nations: Ngezana and Mbokazi.
