Ronwen Williams calls for unity after Mamelodi Sundowns’ CAF Super Cup defeat

Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has urged the club’s players and supporters to stay united after their 3-1 defeat by USM Alger in the CAF Super Cup final at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Sunday.

The loss came after Sundowns’ recent elimination from the CAF Champions League preliminaries, ending their hopes of defending the title they won this year.

Williams said the squad must focus on learning from the setbacks rather than assigning blame, with the South African club still competing for other trophies this season.

“There is no point in pointing fingers now; we need each other. It’s not going to help anyone, and I would urge Masandawana, tough as it is, to stick together, be there for the boys and support us,” he told the media.

The goalkeeper acknowledged the disappointment of losing a final at home but said Sundowns would need to recover quickly and improve collectively.

“Obviously, it is tough. This one will hurt for a very long time. It’s disappointing… [but] we have to reflect as a team on what worked, and we need to get back to that,” he said.

“As tough as it is, we need to pick ourselves up. It’s going to be a long season, and we just need to be better as a team, draw strength from one another and keep growing.

“We can’t win them all, but it is disappointing to lose at home in the final. But we will have to regroup and get going.”

Williams pointed to previous setbacks as evidence that Sundowns could respond positively. The club lost the Champions League final to Pyramids before returning stronger and winning the competition this year.

He said the team had gained valuable experience from difficult moments in recent seasons and would have to draw on that resilience again.

“You can only learn from these moments; I mean, we’ve got so much in the last few years that we have to learn from it,” Williams said.

“We need to dig deep, and we’ve always done that and risen up again and kept going. Sundowns is a massive team. We need to keep going and congratulate the other team.”

The defeat leaves Sundowns reflecting on a difficult period after their early Champions League exit and the disappointment of missing out on the CAF Super Cup on home ground. Williams, however, believes the players must regroup, support one another and continue their campaign.