Ronwen Williams (SuperSport United) with Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs) during the South African national soccer team training session at University of Johannesburg. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
This past weekend in a 2-0 Absa Premiership away loss to Black Leopards, Ronwen Williams handed over the SuperSport United armband to club skipper Dean Furman, who returned to action following a couple of months on the side-lines, forced by a shoulder injury.
Williams, the longest-serving member of Matsatsantsa’s squad, has led the team for eight games in Furman’s absence, winning only two matches and keeping just three clean sheets. However, skippering the side was a task which he embraced.
“I’ve enjoyed it and obviously I would have loved to win more games but it has been great. We have experienced players and I did not need to tell them anything. My job is just to flip the coin, that’s it. The coach takes care of the rest,” he said.
When the season started, Williams was one of many SuperSport players in high spirits regarding their chances in the Absa Premiership. Williams has won all the domestic trophies on offer except the biggest of them all – the league title.
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Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates – who finished as winners and runners-up last season – are showing good intent to challenge for league honours again. Both are, however, competing in the Caf Champions League and the passion both clubs have for the continental game could yet prove a distraction. Williams does believe that SuperSport’s chances of snatching the league championship have improved because of the situation facing Masandawana and the Buccaneers.
“Hopefully it can play a part in us pushing for the league and going further than previous years. But they have squads that are bigger than ours and we don’t have the budgets they have. They can play three different teams a week,” said Williams, who then went on to single out Gavin Hunt and his Bidvest Wits table-topping side as the favourites to win the title.
“Let’s see if it can work in our favour because Bidvest Wits are also doing well. They don’t lose many games so my eyes are always on Wits and Sundowns. With Wits not playing in any Caf competitions, I think we should focus more on them because we know the travelling will take its toll.”
Winning the league may be top of Williams’ wish list, but that is not all. The soft-spoken 26-year-old wants to dethrone Itumeleng Khune as Bafana Bafana’s No 1 goalkeeper – a task he knows is not easy.
Khune has remained a favourite for Bafana under various coaches for over a decade, but Williams feels his time to own the Bafana gloves is near.
“I accepted that because I know I haven’t had the best Bafana career so far … I believe that I can … it is soon, I can taste it. My confidence is up, I believe I can play and I will wait for my chance and when I do get it, I will grab it with both hands this time,” said Williams.
In over 200 games for United across all competitions, Williams is not happy that his side regularly find themselves on the losing end every time they face Sundowns in the Tshwane derby. Before he hangs up his gloves, he would love to see the shift of dominance in the capital city derby. In the past 10 encounters, Masandawana have won a resounding 80% of those games, while SuperSport managed one win via a penalty shootout and one match was played to a 1-1 stalemate.
“I am like my CEO (Stanley Matthews), I like statistics and if we look at Pirates and Chiefs, they have not beaten us in nine games and this season both of them beat us, so hopefully we can get the favour returned to us and maybe we can beat them (Sundowns). We just need to stay focused.”
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