Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has become the first goalkeeper to ever save four penalties in a single Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) match shootout in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.
This as he helped the team beat Cape Verde 2-1 in penalties, after the teams played to a 0-0 draw in regulation and extra time of their quarterfinal encounter.
Williams kept the side in the game, as Cape Verder dominated most of the match, consistently found themselves in dangerous positions but couldn’t conjure up the quality to beat Williams.
The Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper showed his prowess late in the game, when he also made a crucial save late in regulation time to deny Benchimol a clear goal, ensuring that the game went into extra time and Bafana went on to win the game.
After 120 minutes of goalless action, the match went to the penalties, and Williams produced four sensational saves to inspire the team to the semi-finals with a 2-1 victory, setting up an encounter with Nigeria.
“Over the moon, I’m filed with joy happiness, not for the penalties, but for the team, we deserve it.
We fought so hard till the end, to keep fighting 120 almost 130 minutes, to fight and keep going.
Guys were cramping, it just shows the desire and the will we had to keep on going,” said Williams, who was also voted man of the match.
He said the award doesn’t belong to him alone, but the whole team, as it was solid for more than 120 minutes.
“I’ll receive this trophy on behalf of the whole team, the technical team, the staff, and everyone that’s been on the journey with us,” Williams said at the post-match briefing.
He attributed his penalty saving prowess to the research by the analysts and goalkeeper coach, as they studied hours of Cape Verde players.
“I give credit to the analysts, they prepare me, they cut so many videos we studied the clips. I studied them as well and I tried to pick up the trends, but credit to the analysts and the goalkeeper coach as well,’.
“My phone is full of penalty clips. So, credit to the analysts because it’s not easy to get footage of these players, they are playing all over the world,” said an elated Williams.
He added the clips made his job easier, because he could determine where most of the players were going.
Williams acknowledged that although their next opponents have players who plight their trade at European clubs, the team is not afraid of them.
The match between Bafana Bafana and Nigeria on Wednesday at 19:00 South African time.
Bafana last reached the semi-final stage of AFCON more than 24 years ago.
