Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso has hit back at criticism of captain Ronwen Williams, insisting the Bafana Bafana goalkeeper’s career and performances speak for themselves.
Williams was named Man of the Match after producing six saves as Sundowns secured a 2-0 victory over Milford on Wednesday, putting in a commanding display between the posts.
The performance came after the goalkeeper had faced criticism in recent weeks, but Cardoso believes any assessment of Williams needs to take his achievements into account.
“I think any criticism on Ronwen Williams must be done with a lot of respect and very easy when speaking about a player whose career speaks for him, his awards speak for him, what he did in the CAF Champions League final speaks for him,” Cardoso said.
“What he did for the country speaks for him, so whatever is said about Ronwen, should be spoken with a lot of caution, with a lot of care, because any moment, people need to put in the pocket what they have to say.”
Cardoso was particularly pleased with Williams’ response against Milford, highlighting that the goalkeeper contributed far beyond his saves.
“Today Ronwen, again, showed he is a high-level, qualified goalkeeper and also when the teams are settling down, goalkeepers settle down, so some of the… I said that already, not many made the right analysis about that,” he added.
“Some of the goals scored up until today came from individual mistakes and not team behaviour mistakes and what is important is the level of commitment that we have between all of us, so that we can correct them.”
For Cardoso, Williams’ performance was therefore about much more than simply keeping a clean sheet.
“That was a word I gave in the locker room, not only praising him on the match that he did, completely valid to receive the Man of the Match, because he had some quality interventions, not only how he defended, and how he helped the team throughout the match,” he explained.
“He helped us play from the back, without pressure, so many beautiful things, Ronwen knows the support he has from the coach and he is strong in dealing with pressure and usually his best performances come in moments of higher pressure.”
Cardoso also pointed to last season’s CAF Champions League final as evidence of Williams’ ability to deliver when the scrutiny is at its highest.
“Last year before the Champions League final, there was criticism and he appeared in the level, and saved a penalty that put us to have the capacity of the second star on the shirt,” Cardoso concluded.