Williams: We Don’t Fear Any Opponent 

Ronwen Williams, who will run out for the 50th time against South Sudan in the last Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Tuesday, believes that Bafana Bafana has turned the corner and has no reason to fear any opponent thanks to coach Hugo Broos for instilling a winning mentality in the squad. 

The Belgian mentor has won 20 matches, drew 12, and lost only six in 38 games in the dugout since his appointment as the South African national team coach in May 2021. 

In addition, Broos became the first ever Bafana coach to qualify for back-to-back AFCON finals. In the wake of the team’s recent success under the 72-year-old tactician, Williams admits that signs of a change in fortunes were visible, with the most notable catalyst to Bafana’s resurrection being the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. 

“There were many moments [where we felt there’s a turnaround] especially over the past few years when the coach came, I mean when we had that World Cup campaign, I think it was the coach’s first six months, we collected so many points, ” said the Downs shot-stopper. 

“We were so sure of reaching that World Cup like I said we were 90 minutes away and that’s when the guys had that belief, it started creeping in. You can see that since then, we haven’t lost too many games.” 

The SuperSport United academy product says South Africa is a force to be reckoned with after overcoming Morocco twice in less than 12 months and insists that the 2023 AFCON bronze medalists have no fear anymore regardless of the opponent. “We went to Morocco, I mean they are the powerhouses of African football, and I think we’ve beaten them twice in a space of a year, and that’s when I knew that South Africa has turned the corner, ” stated Williams. 

“When we go into a game there’s no fear anymore, they know us now, they come up to us, they speak, they know our names so that shows the good work that we are doing as a team and as a country.” 

Furthermore, the Bafana Bafana captain hailed Broos for the positive impact he has made in restoring the nation’s belief by injecting a winning mentality and confidence within the squad – similar to what he did with Cameroon where he clinched the 2017 AFCON title. 

“Players always have their ways of how the game should be played, but when you have a coach who has the knowledge and experience over many years of coaching and achieving things, you buy into what he says, ” said Williams. 

“You want to learn from him and give him your all, he’s got the experience, and he showed a similar path when he was with Cameroon, and over the last few years, you know what we’ve achieved as a country, not many people speak about it. 

“But the number of games we have won away from home, now when we go there, we don’t go with a negative mindset of wanting to sit back, we want to win the game and we showed this against Uganda, the packed stadium doesn’t faze us anymore, we have confidence that we got from the coach.”