Williams Remains Optimistic Despite Three-Point Deduction

Bafana Bafana captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has acknowledged the setback of their three-point deduction in their FIFA World Cup qualifiers campaign, but remains optimistic about the team’s chances of qualifying. 

The 1996 African champions were handed the deduction after fielding a suspended midfielder, Teboho Mokoena, against Lesotho in March of this year. 

Despite winning the game 2-0, FIFA opted to deduct the points and goals and awarded Lesotho three points and three goals.

The deduction has seen Bafana Bafana drop from first to second place in the log standings, with the team now tied on 14 points with log leaders Benin, but separated by goal difference. 

However, Williams is focused on the upcoming games, saying, “Obviously, it wasn’t good news, but there’s nothing much that we can do about it. We need to control what we can, and that is the next two important games. I think we still have an opportunity, a big opportunity to qualify, and we know how important these games are.”

Ahead of their final two games of the qualifiers against Zimbabwe on Friday and Rwanda on Tuesday, both to be held in South Africa, Williams emphasized the importance of the matches.

“In either way, these two games will still be more important, and we need to get the job done,” he said 

“I think that’s okay, we haven’t spoken about this – we don’t have to because we can’t do anything about it, and we’d rather focus and put energy on the next two games.”

Williams also highlighted the team’s determination to qualify.

“Like I said, if you can see the energy that we brought to training this week, you can see it’s a team that means business,” he highlighted.

“We know what is at stake; it’s coming down to it now, and it’s a business of the qualifiers. 

“But nothing needs to change; we just need to be the team that we’ve been in the last two or three years. We’ve been growing, we’ve been so good, but we need to finish on a high note, and we’ve set out our high standard when we started the World Cup campaign.”

According to Williams, Bafana’s focus is on securing qualification through their own efforts, rather than relying on other teams.

“We want to qualify, and it’s close now and it’s in our hands,” he added.

“I think that’s the most important thing that we’re not going to look at favours and relying on other teams, we want to get the job done, and that’s the mentality we all have in the camp.”

Williams concluded by highlighting the toughness of the upcoming games, saying, “We have two important games, we know how tough they’re going to be because they’re not going to make it easy for us, and we don’t expect them to. So, if you were with us in training this week, you’ll see the boys meant business and want to qualify.”

With the team’s final two games against Zimbabwe and Rwanda looming, Bafana Bafana will be looking to secure the necessary results to qualify for the World Cup. 

Despite the setback, Williams’ optimism and determination to succeed are a positive sign for the team as they head into the final stretch of the qualifiers.