PENALTY-SAVING KING WINS IT FOR SUPERSPORT
“I don’t practice penalties as such. Honestly speaking, and I don’t want to sound like I’m blowing my own horn, but I’ve been a penalty specialist since I started playing football,” Williams told reporters recently.
“I’ve only lost one penalty shoot-out since I graduated to the first team. And that’s the time I kicked and that’s why I don’t kick anymore. I believe in myself and it is all about helping the team.”
Williams has been something of an enigma, clearly talented and on his day a match for anybody in the Premier Soccer League. But he has too often let himself down, not least in the national team jersey.
He came onto the scene as a regular while still a teenager, a rarity for a goalkeeper in South Africa.
After keeping a clean sheet on debut in a 1-0 win over Free State Stars at the end of the 2010-11 season, he became a fixture in the side after that until injury and a loss of form made his appearances more sporadic in recent years.
He has had competition from Reyaad Pieterse in the last two seasons, but has been restored to first-choice goalie by coach Kaitano Tembo since Pieterse moved on to Mamelodi Sundowns,.
His debut in a Bafana Bafana shirt came in a 5-0 home drubbing at the hands of Brazil in March 2014 and in his five caps to date he has not shown the necessary composure for that level … yet.
They say goalkeepers peak after 30 and with four years to go until he hits that milestone, Williams could certainly be a strong contender to take over from Itumeleng Khune in the national team jersey in the years to come.
But for now he will be focused on getting SuperSport into the MTN8 final.