Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams says the team took early criticism from the fans on the chin and is happy that the squad has responded positively from the early slow start to the tournament, Completesports.com reports.
Williams has so far been one of the stars of the tournament for the Bafana Bafana and made a number of important saves in the win against host nation Egypt in the second round game last Saturday.
Williams is expected to have another busy night against the Super Eagles, the Supersport United goalie is ready to face with more work.
“Our performance in the opening first few games were not up to standard. We knew we could play better and we were getting a lot of flak and stick back home,” Williams told reporters ahead of the game.
“So (in that win over Egypt) we were just basically reminding them (fans back home) to believe in the team because we didn’t come here to perform badly. We work hard every day, but things were a bit tough in the Group Stages but we just needed to remind them to stick together as a nation, support us through thick and thin. You never know in football, be there and support us at all times.”
Williams who has hardly made any slip up and is growing in confidence by each game says criticism, especially constructive one is welcome.
“Positive criticism is always acceptable, the positive criticism we got, we took it with the pinch of salt and we moved on and we proved to everyone that we are here to do our job as best as possible,” he added.
“We had a slow start, our preparations were not the best and the further we go, the better we can become. The confidence is growing; I think the coach has found the right balance.
” We have been working hard to improve our weaknesses and we knew from beginning that we could get better. In the beginning, we didn’t create a lot chances but we were solid defensively but the last game we were positive on the offensive and we can only get better as the tournament progresses.”
By Adeboye Amosu in Cairo
COMMENTS
Onana of Cameroon did not concede a goal until they played Nigeria. Williams, be ready to concede goals.
You must be joking
South Africa will win 2 nil
Stuart Baxter has never lost to Nigeria.
Gone are the days when Nigeria can beat South Africa
That was how you people boasted when we came to South Africa until VAR succeeded in making the score line 1:1. The actual score line was 3:1 in favour of the eagles. We will still eat banana banana raw as we usually do.
Mr man pls tell me the score
Oh, so Stuart Baxter has never lost to Nigeria, abi?
Well, there is always a first time 🙂 🙂 🙂
This South Africa team talks too much
We shall all see today
Dominic, what bad think has the goal keeper said, he is simply analysing how their team has progressed, he is not boasting, but simply and correct facts, but I hope our eagles beat them tonight.
the eagles will soar again