According to Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams, the level of commitment from the team has been “amazing” in the build up to the FIFA World Cup.
Bafana Bafana are fresh off a 2-1 defeat to Panama at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town, a match which took place on Tuesday.
However, Williams’ view is that the players are fighting hard for the country following a disappointing showing at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), where they were knocked out in the last 16.
“I think the intensity when you are in the national team, when you have a coach like Coach Hugo Broos, is always high. He does not accept anything less than your best. And we learned our lesson when we took our foot off the pedal at AFCON,” reflects Williams.
“It humbled us, and if you had to see training now, you could see that everyone means business again. The tackles are flying in every day. No one wants to lose. There are a lot of battles. You know, it looks like a real game that’s going on in training.
“And the intensity, you know, has definitely doubled. And you could also see it in the (first) Panama game (in Durban). You could see the intensity, the runs. Not only forward, back as well. The defensive work that the guys put in is amazing.
“So you can see the team is in a good space. Because it was a very difficult moment for us. We had high expectations at AFCON, and we let ourselves down,” admits Williams.
The Mamelodi Sundowns shot-stopper has backed the team to take the fighting spirit to the World Cup, where they will play the opening match against co-hosts Mexico on 11 June. Williams says there’s a lot at stake.
“Like the coach mentioned, the World Cup will probably open more doors for more players to get the exposure to play at the elite level because there is a massive difference and you can feel it sometimes when you are playing against the higher position quality,” he says.
“People shouldn’t forget when we played France and played Brazil and played these bigger countries; you can feel that there is a difference, but I think slowly, surely, we are closing that gap. We need more players, obviously, to go play at the highest level, so hopefully now with the World Cup, the players can put up their hands.”
