Williams is coming home with Bafana
Jonty Mark
Ronwen Williams (pictured) said he is fighting fit and raring to go in the Nelson Mandela Challenge against Mali on Sunday, in a game to be played in front of the SuperSport United goalkeeper’s hometown fans in Port Elizabeth.
Williams’ family and friends have been in PE already to watch him train, and after recovering from picking up a knock in the MTN8 final against Highlands Park on Saturday, the 27year-old will now hope to get the nod for Molefi Ntseki’s first game as head coach of the national team.
“I’m feeling good,” said Williams yesterday.
“It is a slight knock that I got in the final last weekend, ironically it was (Mothobi) Mvala (who is also in the Bafana squad) who gave me a nice knock, but I am strong, I have trained the last two days.
“It is an amazing feeling being here,” said Williams on playing at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the city where he grew up.
“As soon as it was announced that this game was coming here I was excited … having your family and friends come and watch you train … and hopefully having the opportunity to watch you play in front of them, there is no better feeling.”
Williams faces stiff competition for the No 1 jersey from Belgium-based Darren Keet – the former played in four of Bafana’s five games at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, while Keet played in goal in the group stage match against Namibia.
“South Africans are blessed with quality goalkeepers,” said Williams.
“I am happy for someone like Darren who is playing overseas, and for young (Ricardo) Goss … he has been part of the national set-up before.”
Mali have a strong-looking squad in town to take on Bafana, with all their outfield players based at clubs in Europe. Only the two goalkeepers, Djigui Diarra and Adama Keita, play in the Malian top flight.
One name to certainly look out for is 19-year-old striker Sekou Koita, who scored three goals at the 2019 Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Poland earlier this year, where Mali reached the quarterfinals. Koita already has five league goals in six games for Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga this season, though he missed the 4-3 loss to Liverpool in the Uefa Champions League.
Another up-and-coming star of this Mali team is midfielder Amadou Haidara, who plies his trade with RB Leipzig in the German Bundesliga.
The 21-year-old has made only one Bundesliga start this season, but was a regular member of the Mali team at this year’s Afcon, netting the winner in their 1-0 group stage win over Angola.
Kaitano Tembo won his first trophy as a head coach at SuperSport United on Saturday, as beat Highlands Park at Orlando Stadium to win the MTN8. Tembo has been on the SuperSport coaching staff for a long time, and has seen plenty of cups arrive in Tshwane, but this was an important first as leader of the side, and a shot in the arm for local coaches in the Premier Soccer League. SuperSport could easily have decided to bring a new face in after the club ended the 2018/19 campaign without any silverware, but they kept faith in Tembo and have been rewarded with a team that look well set to challenge for even more honours this season.
Highlands Park could generally take plenty of heart from their performance in the MTN8 final, with Owen da Gama’s side doing extremely well to reach the showpiece at Orlando Stadium, and playing perfectly well in the final. Defender Sphiwe Msimango, however, may still be having nightmares about his extraordinary miss in the 51st minute, when standing pretty much on the goalline, with Ronwen Williams nowhere in sight, he somehow managed to head the ball against the post and out of play. He ended up sitting in the net himself in disbelief, and the Lions of the North’s best chance of the match had come and gone.