Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams has defended Hugo Broos for opting for a new-look squad in their 1-1 draw against Andorra.
In what was an uninspiring display for South Africa after the high of finishing third at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, they laboured to a draw against the 164th-ranked nation in world football with a much-changed starting eleven.
Broos stated he was satisfied to offer new players a chance with several debutants but stated there will be no experimenting against Algeria on Tuesday when they face off at the Nelson Mandela Stadium at 23h00.
“We were disappointed as a team, we felt they were there for the taking, we created so many chances but in saying that it was a completely different team to the one we’ve had for the past two years,” Williams told SAFA media.
“There’s been so many new players, players that have also come back into the team, so it was a completely new team and for us, the main thing is we didn’t lose the game, yes we disappointed we didn’t get the win we wanted.
“Coach said he was giving new players a chance to showcase their talent, so they can put their hand up but the most important thing is to win – so that was the only disappointment we take from the game – that we didn’t win.
“We felt we were strong enough to win, we created so many chances, but it’s one of those games where the coach had his reasons for his approach of allowing many players to play so we don’t need to look too much into that game.
“Tomorrow is a big one, we playing the host nation, they came off a very bad AFCON, just got a new coach [Vladmir Petkovic] that can be very dangerous as players want to put their hand up, want to be counted, so we’ve trained accordingly, we’re ready to show why we finished third at AFCON and want consistency in our performances.”
