Bafana captain happy to see Zwane back with team SA

Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams is excited to see Mamelodi Sundowns teammate Themba Zwane back with the senior national team for the international friendlies against Sierra Leone and Botswana.

Bafana take on Sierra Leone on Saturday and Botswana on Tuesday, both at FNB Stadium, where coach Hugo Broos will have a look at a number of new players he has called up.

“It is wonderful to see him [Zwane] as part of the set-up again,” Williams said of the influential Sundowns creative midfielder.

“He has achieved so much in the game, and to see him still going strong after everything he has achieved shows the quality and mentality he ’ s got.

“It is good to have him back in the set-up.

“Guys will learn a lot from him because he has played at the highest level. We played together at Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 and there is a lot of history between us.

“Now we are playing for the same club, which is nice. Honestly he has been one of the best players in the Premier Soccer League for the longest time — it is really good to have him here.”

Broos’s senior combination have lost three games — 1-0 away against Ghana in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, 5-0 in a friendly against world champions France in Lille and 2-1 away against Morocco in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier — of their last four games. The other was a 0-0 friendly draw against Guinea in Brussels.

Questions have been asked about the quality of 113thranked Sierra Leone and 146thranked Botswana as opponents, but Williams said there were no easy games on the African continent.

“These two games are not going to be easy, there are no easy games on the African continent any more, and playing at home we need to stamp our authority, play our football and dominate them.

“We are coming off four results that were not good, including Guinea, where I feel we should have won that game because we created a lot of chances. We had three defeats along the way and there is a bit of negative feel.”

Williams said senior players would have to make sure the new faces in the squad felt at home.

“It is good for the new players in the Bafana squad, it is good that the coach is giving them the opportunity. We have a few injuries to the more permanent players who were here before, and it is an opportunity for these guys to take.

“Myself and the senior guys will encourage them to grab this opportunity with both hands because to wear your country’s jersey is a massive honour and there is pride at stake. As the captain, part of my job is to make them feel at home, put them at ease because I was in their shoes not too long ago as a new player to the national team.

“It’s good to see all the guys are here early and it was a full camp on the first day. We are just waiting for Khanyisa Mayo to come because he was part of the Caf Champions League qualification for Cape Town City, playing away in Congo.”