Williams urges Bafana fans to welcome Mosimane on his return

South Africa captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has called on supporters to give Pitso Mosimane a full welcome when Bafana Bafana begin their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign against Guinea at Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The match will be Mosimane’s first in charge since returning for a second spell as head coach, and Williams believes the occasion should be marked by strong support from the stands.

“To all the Bafana, South African loving fans, please come out and support the team, show love, show up, let’s fill the stadium, we know how the stadium can rock,” Williams said at a pre-match press conference.

“One of our own is back in the seat, let’s give our coach the warm welcome that he deserves.

“He has done amazing work for South African football, for African football, so let it be a nice spectacle for us all and let’s celebrate tomorrow together.”

The 34-year-old Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper also warned that South Africa cannot afford to underestimate any opponent during the qualifying campaign.

Although Guinea are the opponents named for Saturday’s fixture, Williams referred to Kenya when discussing the dangers facing the team and said the identity of the opposing coach would ensure the match was competitive.

“Obviously we control what we can and that is with our performances, what we want to achieve and I know many people think probably Kenya won’t take it seriously but we know who’s the head coach and he’s a winner as well,” he said.

“So it’s not going to be easy. If you look at African football now, there’s no easy opponent. There’s a lot at stake, everyone wants to be AFCON. It’s not what it was a few years ago, where you knew who would be there.

“You saw Ghana losing yesterday, so it’s difficult. So we go into every game, we prepare well, we take each and every game seriously and obviously like I’ve mentioned, all these games are experiences, and it’s valuable experiences.”

Williams said the team’s approach would remain focused on winning, while accepting that a draw could sometimes prove important over the course of a qualifying campaign.

“So we will go there with the right mentality and the mentality has got us here,” he added. “Each and every game we go there to win. Sometimes you play for a draw and that draw will take you all the way to the AFCON, each and every game, with the technical team and the coach, would have the game plan but we want to win each and every game.”