South Africa’s national soccer team goalkeeper Ronwen Williams wants his teammates to stay confident. He spoke after some unexpected results in their World Cup qualifying games. The team has faced both good and bad moments while trying to reach the 2026 World Cup. Williams believes that keeping faith in their abilities is key right now. The captain thinks his team should focus on their strengths instead of worrying about past games. He wants Bafana Bafana to keep pushing forward in their quest to qualify for the tournament. The team needs to stay positive as they continue their journey toward the World Cup.
South Africa’s national team plays their final qualifying match against Rwanda on Tuesday evening at 6pm in Mbombela Stadium. The team must win this game to keep their hopes alive for reaching the World Cup in North America. They haven’t made it to a World Cup since 2002. Their only appearance after that was in 2010 when they played as the host nation. This game is crucial for their qualification chances. The team knows they need three points from this match. A win would boost their chances of making it to the big tournament. The players understand what’s at stake in this important qualifier.
South Africa can still beat Rwanda but they need help from the other match. They must wait for Nigeria & Benin to play each other. For South Africa to advance Nigeria needs to win or draw against Benin. The outcome depends on both games.
South Africa’s national team is in trouble because of their own mistake. FIFA took away three points from them and changed their 2-0 win to a 3-0 loss. This happened because they broke the rules by playing Teboho Mokoena in their home game against Lesotho in March when he wasn’t allowed to play. The team now faces a harder path forward because of this error.
South Africa tied their game against Zimbabwe in their second-to-last match on Friday. This left them in second place in Group C with 15 points. They are now two points behind the group leaders Benin. At Monday’s press meeting in Nelspruit before the Rwanda game Williams spoke up. He said the team has made too much progress to start losing faith in themselves now.
“Things aren’t perfect right now but we have to deal with it. The team understands what they need to do. We talked about everything and I can tell you they’re prepared. They still believe in themselves and our chances” Williams said.
“We need to get out there & prove ourselves like we’ve done before. Our team has been strong for two years now. We know how good we are and how far we’ve come. There’s no need to question our abilities.”
We need to concentrate on our own game and hope that Nigeria versus Benin ends with a good score for us. That’s what Williams said again today.
“Many things will affect this game. But I think we need to focus on winning and doing our best” said Williams.
We need to focus on our own performance instead of worrying about Nigeria. Rwanda will be a tough opponent in our next match. We learned this lesson when Zimbabwe played with full effort even though they had nothing at stake.
“We think Rwanda will play like normal. We need to focus on our own performance & try to score many goals. During the game we’ll watch how our fans react. If they start celebrating we’ll know Nigeria is winning their match.”
The Sharks were expected to win against The Warriors in Durban but things didn’t go as planned. Coach Williams explained the main problems that led to their poor performance. The team made several mistakes & failed to play at their usual level. This unexpected result left fans wondering what happened to their favorite team on the field.
“During our previous match we felt nervous & it showed. Our team lost its usual calmness because we wanted to win so badly. I told the players not to doubt themselves. I just wanted them to keep playing like they normally do” Williams explained.
We didn’t play our normal game against Zimbabwe. The team tried too hard and it showed in our performance. We need to stay relaxed and not put extra stress on ourselves when we play.
“We need to stay relaxed and think clearly. Tomorrow we’ll keep this positive attitude & stay cool. That way we can do something amazing for our nation.”
