More than a thousand of Bafana Bafana fans welcomed the team this morning at the O.R. Tambo International in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, as they arrived from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The team finished third at the recently held African Cup of Nations (AFCON), after they beat the Democratic Republic of Congo 6-5 on penalties on Saturday night.
This was the team’s first semifinal spot at the AFCON in 24 years, and they received a hero’s welcome led by Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, EFF leader Julius Malema and other dignitaries.
Speaking at the welcoming ceremony, President of South African Football Association (SAFA) Danny Jordaan, said the team has made the country proud and heaped praise to coach Hugo Broos.
“I want to thank the coach, we started a long journey and we had so many fights with him and he’s not going to run away from the fight, he runs towards a fight. He had very strong views and was not afraid to express them. We could see the team shaping and thanks to him for building the team,” said an elated Jordaan.
He said it had been decades since a Bafana Bafana team reached such high standards,
Jordaan also acknowledged captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who was selected the best goalkeeper in the African continent, selected in the CAF best eleven, and captain of Africa best eleven.
“We celebrate him today. He has done something that no goalkeeper in the history of football has done. To stop four out of five penalties, it has not been done, and no one there in Cote d’Ivoire could believe what he did. I don’t know how you made it, but you would be remembered in world football as that goalkeeper who stopped four penalties in a row,” added Jordaan.
He also highlighted that Teboho Mokoena and Khuliso Mudau have been included in the best 11, which is the highest number of players of any country in the continent.
For his part, Williams thanked the support from home during the tournament, and was happy to have inspired other people.
“We feel extremely proud, we are just happy that we can inspire and unite our country, our people. We are still living in the moment, it feels unreal what we have achieved over the last few weeks. We’ve seen all the messages, records that we have broken as a team,” said Williams.
The captain also attributed the team’s performance to unity and brotherhood.
“I’m just proud of the boys. First, the brotherhood we had from day one, the spirit amongst us has been good. That is one of the reasons we’ve been successful, it’s the spirit, togetherness, it’s been amazing to see. Like I said, they made things easy for me as a captain,” added Williams.
Broos said despite not winning AFCON, it was a fantastic feeling and proud of the team.
“It wasn’t easy with teams like Tunisia and Mali, and then you got Morocco. The confidence in the team and players was so big that we dreamt about the final. We were very close to that final and we were also disappointed after the game against Nigeria,” explained the coach.
He acknowledged that the team was exhausted against the Democratic Republic of Congo but fought for 90 minutes and received third place.
The coach also acknowledged technical staff, medical people, kit manager, security, and media team, who were always there for the team and ensured that it is always in shape.
Kodwa applauded the SAFA leadership and urged it to build on the current squad, to help the team qualify for the next FIFA World Cup.