Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams believes the national team is on the right track and, given their performance since last year, has the potential to win the AFCON.

The 1996 African champions had a great year last year as they lost only one game in an open play, against Mali in the group stage of the AFCON in Ivory Coast. The South African senior football national team even won the Bronze medals in the AFCON as they finished third. 

Williams, alongside his teammates in both Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana, Teboho Mokoena was included in the team of the tournament in the AFCON. 

Williams also won the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award for his stellar performance.

“If you want to be powerful, you need consistency and if you look at from 2023 we’ve been very consistent,” Williams said, as Bafana resumed the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign against Lesotho at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Friday (18:00) and Benin on Tuesday.

“I don’t think there’s so many losses; if I look at last year, I think there was only one defeat in an open play. That defeat was against Mali in the AFCON if I’m not mistaken, so we are on the right path and there’s still a lot to do.

“We need to be consistent, we need to do hard work, hard running and the mentality needs to be good every time. There’s no time for us to sit back, relax, and smile because of what we’ve achieved – but there’s so much more to achieve.

“We want to win the AFCON, we want to be in the World Cup and show our work. So, we need to have the right mentality from now until the long as we can.”

Williams suffered an injury at the end of last season, which forced him not to play at the beginning of this season. The former SuperSport United goalkeeper added that this injury taught him a lot.

“No player wants to be injured but I think it came at the right time for me,” Williams added.

“I’ve played so much football over the last few years and few months. That injury has done me wonders, I’ve got more energy now and I’m looking forward to the games and I’m excited as well.” 

He continued: “Before, there was no excitement because you do it over and over, and you don’t enjoy the game anymore. So, it’s done me wonders, it’s given me time to relax and there were goals that I conceded of which I was not supposed to…

“We are all human beings, we get high, we get frustrated and it came to me at a perfect time. Now I think the country needs me maybe more than before, so I’m overwhelmed and looking forward to finishing in a good way.”