Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams makes AFCON history

by Dideka Njemla

Upon his sensational performance and delivery in what had seemed like a rather tense match this past weekend between, Bafana Bafana, and the Cape Verde national team, the Bafana Bafana team captain and goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams has done an outstanding job in sending his team through to the 2023 AFCON. Ronwen has become the first goalkeeper to ever save four penalties in a single AFCON shootout. Breaking yet another world record, his saves have created quite a memorable record for the team as Bafana Bafana will now qualify to play in the AFCON semi-finals for the first time since 2000.

Many South Africans and soccer supporters can attest that they had experienced a sense of distress when it seemed that the scoreboard was not improving on our side as the 0 – 0 score had many anxious about finding out who would be the first team to score and qualify for the semi-finals.

While we cannot ignore the sense of joy and pride that the nation had upon witnessing and experiencing the South African national team qualify for the quarter-finals, the yearning to push limits, reign supreme, and yet again be titled as sporting champions is something that we are longing and anticipating for Bafana Bafana.

Following the rather jittery and stressful quarter-final game, many had already set their eyes and had agreed on who the star of the show was. The 32-year-old Bafana Bafana goalkeeper stole the show as his saves managed to get the national team to qualify for the upcoming semi-final games. According to BBC Sports -Premier League’s free-to-air highlights broadcast partner based in the UK – South Africa defender Grant Kekana, described ~Ronwen as a “world-class goalkeeper.”

In a penalty shootout that stood out between South Africa and Cape Verde, Ronwen came to the rescue as his reflex saves came out to play. Ronwen – now deemed as the country’s treasure –  secured his country a position in the semi-final game as he acquired four saves from Cape Verde in a tense penalty shootout. The match ended in our country qualifying as they led 2-1.

Also see: WATCH: Bafana Bafana players perform Skomota dance celebrating their victory against Morocco