MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA - MAY 12: Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rhulani Mokwena during the Mamelodi Sundowns press conference at Chloorkop on May 12, 2022 in Midrand, South Africa. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
Ronwen Williams, the goalkeeper for Mamelodi Sundowns, thinks that Bafana Bafana’s chances might be enhanced by the team’s recent success on the continent.
The men’s national team of South Africa will begin its 2026 World Cup qualification campaign this weekend, and they want to start the road with a positive attitude.
Tomorrow at 3 p.m., Bafana will host Benin at Moses Mabhida Stadium before departing for Rwanda on Tuesday to play their second Group C encounter.
The 31-year-old goalkeeper stopped a penalty against Al Ahly in the African Football League (AFL) semifinal, and the Brazilians went on to win the first championship.
One of the most challenging paths in African club football required Sundowns to push their way past Petro de Luanda from Angola and Al Ahly before to their championship game against Wydad Casablanca, the formidable Moroccan team.
Williams, who is also a candidate for the CAF Goalkeeper of the Year award, thinks that Masandawana’s success in overcoming these challenges will only benefit Bafana.
Playing in the AFL taught us a great deal. The Bafana skipper told the reporters, “It’s very tough playing every three or four days – you need to be mentally tough, especially with the long travelling.”
We’ll share our experiences because they’re simply things we’ve learned over the last several months and years.
We play home and away, so we have a comparable difficulty right now, so we just need to make sure we recover effectively.
Williams further urged his troops, who have played a significant amount of minutes at the club level, to not look for solace in justifications. Before their next excursions, he demanded that his group behave like “mentality monsters.”
We just need to heal properly and keep going since this is what we do for a living. No room for justifications. Everyone gets fatigued at work, but because this is a paid profession, we should be psychologically ready for it.
With the appointment of head coach Hugo Broos to the national team setup, Williams’s tenure as Bafana captain got underway.
The goalkeeper, who was born in Gqeberha, has been Broos’s main man since the beginning and was a mainstay of Bafana’s unsuccessful World Cup qualifying effort for Qatar 2022.
But as they look to extend their unbeaten 11-game streak, Williams, who is currently at the top of his form once more, thinks the heartache of two years ago has shaped them for the better.
“I’m glad to be back at the camp. As Bafana, we’ve learned a lot over the past two years; the suffering we endured helped us get through the previous year or so,” he said.
“The atmosphere at the camp is positive. We want to keep getting the incredible results we’ve been getting over the previous few months.
