Ronwen Williams defiant: Bafana Bafana can't doubt World Cup qualification chances now

Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams is adamant that the team cannot doubt themselves following the twists and turns in their Fifa World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign.

Bafana will face Rwanda in their last qualifier at Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday night (6pm kick-off). They need to win the match at all costs to aid their chances of reaching the promised land in North America for the first time since the 2002 edition, having merely qualified as hosts in 2010.

While beating Rwanda remains in Bafana’s hands, they still need to bank on the result in the clash between Nigeria and Benin in the other qualifier to go their way: Nigeria must either beat Benin, or the match should end in a draw.

Bafana find themselves in this tricky position due to their own doing. They were docked three points and handed a 3-0 defeat by Fifa after contravening the disciplinary code by fielding an ineligible Teboho Mokoena during their 2-0 win over Lesotho in a home qualifier in March.

They drew with neighbours Zimbabwe in their penultimate qualifier last Friday, resulting in them remaining second in Group C with 15 points, two behind log leaders Benin. Williams, speaking at the pre-match conference in Nelspruit on Monday afternoon ahead of the clash against Rwanda, said the group has come too far to start doubting their abilities now.

"We would have loved to be in a different situation, but it is what it is now; the boys know what is at stake. We had our talks, all I can say is the boys are ready, they have faith and the faith is still there,” Williams said.

"It is just for us to go out there and once again show what we are, what we have been in the last two years. There is no reason to doubt the quality that we have in the team and the progress that we have made.”

Williams reiterated that they need to focus on themselves, and hopefully the result between Nigeria and Benin in Lagos pans out in their favour.

"There are so many factors going into this game and that will play a big role, but for me the most important factor is us winning our game and focusing on what we can do,” Williams stated.

"We can't control what happens in Nigeria, we've to be super focused on our game because Rwanda won't make it easy for us. We saw even Zimbabwe, who didn't have anything to play for, gave their all.

"So, we expect Rwanda to be the same and it is for us to focus on our game, know what we can do, hopefully win the game with as many goals as possible and then we will get the feeling from the supporters what's going on that side and if we see fans celebrating we will know Nigeria are leading.”

Williams also highlighted what went wrong for them against The Warriors in Durban, given the fact that they went into the game as clear favourites.

"In the last game we also had anxiety and you could see in a lot of moments we were not the calm team that we became because we wanted to get the job done so desperately and that was one thing I said to the guys: don't doubt yourself, just play the way we have been playing,” Williams said.

"There were lots of moments in the Zimbabwe game we became too desperate and you could see that's not us. We don't want to play with too much pressure on our shoulders.

"We want to calm down and make the right decisions. So, let's go tomorrow with the same mindset and be calm and go and make history for the country.”