Williams, Bafana on the ball

Bafana Bafana’s amazing progress into the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) semifinals is a testament to the work done by the players, head coach Hugo Broos, and the rest of his coaching staff, whose work behind the scenes often goes unseen.

It was the Bafana captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams who put his name up in lights by saving four Cape Verde penalties in the shootout on Saturday evening to send Bafana into a last-four clash with Nigeria on Wednesday.

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But the saves, as Williams was keen to point out after the game, were also testament to some brilliant analysis of Cape Verde’s penalty takers.

A video came out on social media after the quarterfinal of Williams asking a coach “which one is to my left?” as Bafana prepared for the shootout. “Number 6,” Williams appears to confirm at the response.

It was Cape Verde’s number 6, Patrick Andrade, who hit the penalty that Williams sprung to his left to save and take Bafana into the Afcon semifinals.

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Williams dived the right way for all of Cape Verde’s five penalties, and it is this sort of attention to detail that has helped Bafana produce their best performance at an Africa Cup of Nations in 24 years. Long may it continue.