Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams says his Man of the Match award after a record-breaking penalty shoot-out to beat Cape Verde 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations is not for him to celebrate.
Williams saved a staggering four penalties, something not achieved in AFCON history as South Africa set up a tie with Nigeria after they drew 0-0 with the Blue Sharks over 120 minutes and secured a 2-1 shootout win.
“This doesn’t mean anything [winning the Man of the Match], the fight, the desire we had a as team tonight to fight for 120 plus minutes, that’s what matters to me, to see the brotherhood out there, to fight, to keep going, that matters to me, that’s more important,” Williams said after the game.
“So I will receive this trophy on behalf of all the players, the technical team, the staff, everyone who’s been on this journey with us.”
The 31-year-old went on to reiterate that credit should be handed to their analyst for the tirless work he’s done behind the scenes.
He was seen sprinting up and down to the technical bench during extra-time with information on each substitute and their penalty information.
“I give credit to the analyst [Sinesipho Mali], cut so many videos, we studied the clips, I studied them as well, I try and pick up trends and yeah it’s not me, I give credit to the analyst and the goalkeeper coach, they send me so many clips, my phone is filled with penalty clips so it’s a credit to them for doing the work,” he added.
“It’s not easy to get footage of some of these players all over the world, big up to the analyst to prepare the clips for me to watch and study and they made my job 50% easier, I had an idea where most of the players were going.”
South Africa now travel to Bouake to face the Super Eagles in the last-four of the competition at the Stade de la Paix.