Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams believes South Africa will emerge stronger from their FIFA World Cup opening defeat to Mexico, insisting the team has already identified valuable lessons from the 2-0 loss.
Speaking to SportyTV after the match, Williams admitted that mistakes are often punished at the highest level and felt Bafana paid the price for a costly error in the build-up to Mexico’s opening goal.
“We had a game plan. We didn’t want to concede before the first water break because we knew that would put them on the front foot and get the crowd going,” Williams explained.
“We made a mistake in the build-up and at this level they will hurt you. Any slight chance you give, they will punish you.”
Despite falling behind, Bafana’s skipper praised his teammates for showing resilience against the host nation in a hostile atmosphere.
“As the game went on, it’s not easy playing the host nation and going a goal down, but we kept fighting, kept going and kept grinding,” he said.
Williams felt South Africa showed glimpses of their attacking potential, particularly in transition, but lacked the quality in the final pass to turn promising situations into clear-cut opportunities.
The experienced goalkeeper also acknowledged the challenge of competing on football’s biggest stage after South Africa’s lengthy absence from the tournament.
“This is the biggest stage, and for us not being part of this competition for such a long time, you could see it,” he admitted.
South Africa’s task became even more difficult after being reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Sphephelo Sithole before a second red card for Themba Zwane left Bafana with just nine players on the field. The dismissals disrupted the team’s momentum and made an already difficult challenge even tougher against the host nation.
Nevertheless, Williams remained proud of the commitment and character shown by the squad throughout the encounter.
“I’m proud of the boys. Even going a goal down and later down to nine men, we kept fighting,” he said.
With crucial group-stage fixtures against the Czech Republic and South Korea still to come, Williams believes Hugo Broos’ men can use the experience as a stepping stone for the remainder of their World Cup campaign.
“There are a lot of lessons to take from this game, but we will be better,” he concluded.
Written by: Sandile Ndumo
