South Africa’s goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams is blaming himself for the loose ball that saw William Troost-Ekong hit home a late winner for Nigeria in Wednesday night’s Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final against his team, but says Bafana Bafana have learnt a huge lesson from the loss and will bounce better and stronger.
Williams said in the wake of his team’s ouster from AFCON 2019 that The Rainbow Nation improved with each game, as he admits they toiled in the group stage, qualified for the round of 16 as third placed, yet went on to send the hosts, Egypt, packing and then gave a very good account of themselves against Nigeria.
He reckons the line of progression they achieved at Egypt 2019 is quite reflective of a growing team, one which he believes will improve with time, and stressed that Bafana Bafana will be stronger for any match they step out for in the upcoming days.
The SuperSport United shot-stopper, however, stressed that he was sad how his error caused his country’s loss to Nigeria on Wednesday night, as he misread Moses Simon’s corner kick, allowing Troost-Ekong to nip home an easy finish with just one minute of normal time left.
Nonetheless, the 27-year old keeper added that he is not bothered by the flak and criticism that awaits them back home in The Rainbow Nation, as he believes the whole team gave their best and will learn from their mistakes, as the look to rebuild for a better future to come.
Williams said in a chat www.aclsports.com: “I’m very very disappointed. It’s a bad way to go out of the tournament.
“Last moment lapse in concentration from myself, it’s a bad way to go out but we lovingly learn from these moments.
“These mistakes must make us stronger so we learn from this, I’m not going to let this weigh me down, I will stay positive.
“I think we gave it our all. Positive criticism is fine. We know as a team that we didn’t play well in the group stages.
“We don’t need other people to tell us. The coach said it and you could see we played much better once we came out of the group.”
