Ronwen Williams calls for Sundowns unity after Caf Super Cup loss

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

The result came after Sundowns were eliminated in the Caf Champions League preliminaries, ending their hopes of defending the title. Williams said the team must learn from the setbacks rather than look for individuals to blame.

“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,” Williams told the media.

The goalkeeper acknowledged the disappointment of losing a final at home but said Sundowns still had other trophies to pursue during the season.

“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 said the squad needed to respond collectively and restore the standards that had brought success in recent seasons.

Sundowns had previously experienced disappointment when they lost the Champions League final to Pyramids, but Williams pointed to the way they responded before going on to win the title this year.

“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.

“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 to USM Alger leaves Sundowns reflecting on two setbacks in their continental campaign, but Williams said the team would have to recover and continue working together over what he described as a long season.