On Tuesday this week, South Africa breathed a collective sigh of relief when Bafana Bafana crossed the line first in Group C and qualified for the FIFA 2026 World Cup, ahead of Nigeria and Benin.
“I don’t think we, as players, realise what we’ve done here. This is history, and I’m so proud to be leading this team,” reflects the skipper Williams, who’s now on 56 caps for the senior national team.
Bafana Bafana achieved a 3-0 win over Rwanda in Mbombela to seal qualification.
“What we’ve done here is amazing, and as time goes by, it will probably sink in. I’m so proud of the team and the players and the coach (Hugo Broos) and the technical team, especially. It’s been an amazing journey, with lots of good and bad moments.”
The bad moment was undoubtedly FIFA’s decision to sanction the South African Football Association (SAFA) for dropping the ball and fielding Teboho Mokoena during the qualifiers despite him sitting on two yellow cards.
Now the blunder is water under the bridge according to SAFA president Danny Jordaan, and it’s time to move on. Whether SAFA has learnt its lesson or not will come down to how they conduct their affairs in the future.
For now, however, Williams is proud of the team and its achievement for the Rainbow Nation.
“We had moments where we had to stick together as a team. That’s what I asked for in the last few days. I said in good moments, it’s easy to be a team, but in bad moments, that’s when we have to dig deep and draw strength from one another.
“That’s what we did. So, kudos to the players and the team.”
