Bafana Bafana goalkeepers Renaldo Leaner, Ricardo Goss and Ronwen Williams are taken through their paces ahead of the international friendlies against Panama.
Image: Backpagepix
Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams has embraced the pressure that comes with juggling club football during a critical phase of the season and preparation for the biggest football event, the Fifa World Cup, insisting the challenge is simply part of their jobs.
Bafana will return to the World Cup in North America this winter for the first time since they hosted the event 16 years ago, and the first time they have automatically qualified in more than two decades.
Given that excitement, which is heightened by the fact that they will face co-hosts Mexico in the opening game at Banorte Stadium on 11 June — a repeat of the 2010 event — Bafana are pulling out all the stops to be at their best.
They will begin their preparation for the showpiece with back-to-back clashes against fellow World Cup-bound side Panama at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Friday night (7pm), and at DHL Stadium in Cape Town next Tuesday (7.30pm kick-off).
The Fifa window arrives as domestic leagues, locally and abroad, are at their climax, with teams fighting for respective honours, including silverware and survival. Locally, Mamelodi Sundowns are the busiest of the lot, competing for the Betway Premiership and CAF Champions League.
Should the Brazilians go all the way and win both trophies, their players could finish their club commitments just a day before they are due to assemble for the World Cup camp.
Sundowns’ and Bafana’s No 1, Williams, knows that the club’s and country’s ambitions to do well in their respective targets, especially the World Cup, take precedence. That is why their immediate focus is now on the national team.
“It’s a good pressure to have. It shows that you are doing well if you are still part of all these major tournaments and you have something to play for,” Williams said. “It keeps you focused and ready, knowing that at the back of your mind there is the big one — the World Cup.
“Everyone has something to play for. There’s a lot of motivation. So, it’s a good feeling to have. Hopefully, there aren’t any major problems between now and then so that we can go there with all our soldiers and be war ready.”
Hugo Broos shared his captain's sentiments, insisting that the heavy schedule for the players comes with playing football, and that they are even luckier compared to teams still playing in the World Cup play-offs during this window.
“You can be disappointed or happy, but it is what it is — for all the teams who are going to America,” Broos stated. “This month will provide one of the last games for preparations, so it’s even worse if you are playing in the play-offs. The pressure for those teams is immense.
“We don’t have that pressure. But we all know that this is a preparation for the World Cup, so we have to be serious and compete against an opponent we wanted from Central America. So, we have to make the best of it. We still have another opportunity in May, though.”
With Bafana’s opposition for the last friendly before the World Cup yet to be confirmed, Broos urged for total focus against Panama, and a return of the “real Bafana” following the disappointing last-16 exit at AFCON due to issues of attitude, discipline and a loss of DNA.
“That’s the talk that we’ve had: bring the team back,” Williams added on Broos’ sentiments. “We need to go back to the values that made us so successful in the last few years. Yes, we did let that go and we addressed it as players, together with the coach.
“We have learnt our lesson. It was a very painful lesson as the expectations were so high. The disappointment was evident in the players’ faces, and it took a while to wipe away because we had high expectations not only for ourselves but the country as well.”
Bafana will meet Los Canaleros for the second time in history during this window. Their last meeting ended in a 5-3 penalty shootout win for the Central Americans after a 1-1 draw in the CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final in 2005.
That is why they are motivated to win: to avenge that loss and take a winning momentum into the last friendly in May.