Ronwen Williams: ‘We worked so hard ... It took years of sacrifice’

If it was up to some South Africans, Hugo Broos would have been fired as Bafana Bafana coach immediately after the team’s disappointing display at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco, which ended in a round-of-16 exit.

However, to its credit, the South African Football Association (Safa) backed the long-serving Belgian coach to lead the team at one last major tournament before his contract expires: the 2026 Fifa World Cup. After all, it’s Broos who orchestrated the side’s qualification for the tournament in the first place.

Now the 74-year-old has repaid the faith shown in him by the federation. Bafana Bafana reached the round of 32 of the World Cup taking place in Mexico, the US and Canada by beating South Korea 1-0 on Wednesday, 24 June, thanks to a strike by Cyprus-based winger Thapelo Maseko.

Whereas in the past South Africans would have been scrambling for their calculators, trying to see what favours from other countries the team still needed to move on to the second round, the victory has made it simple.

Bafana Bafana finished the group phase in second place and on four points in their allotted mini-league. Apart from the win over South Korea, the South Africans played to a one-all draw against Czechia and suffered a 2-0 loss to Mexico in their opening match. El Tri topped the group with three wins from their three matches and nine points in the bag.

Bafana Bafana’s bounce-back ability

The defeat against the Mexicans drew extensive criticism, much of which was aimed at Broos. Again, if it was up to some supporters and pundits, the Belgian coach would have suffered the same fate as his coaching counterpart Sabri Lamouchi.

The latter was sacked as Tunisia’s head coach after just one game at the World Cup. His team’s 5-1 wallopping by Sweden cost him his job, and fellow Frenchman Hervé Renard was parachuted into the tournament. However, his arrival did not stop the Tunisians from being eliminated from the World Cup.

Safa blocked out the noise of such a drastic and impulsive action with regard to Bafana Bafana’s boss. It had to, out of respect for Broos after he steered South Africa back to the global stage for the first time in 16 years. For his part, Broos was his usual confident and sharp-tongued self as he swatted away the team’s critics.

“I’ve been coaching for nearly 40 years and I know there is a side to the job where you are criticised. But people must know that I do things my way. I never listen to the trash on social media. I never listen to people who think they are important and have to criticise the team… It should be better that they shut up,” Broos said.

“This is part of my job. I know that when you lose, you’re criticised and when you win, you are the king. Eight months ago when we qualified for the World Cup [by beating Rwanda 3-0], there was somebody who came to me and said ‘Coach, they have to make a statue for you in South Africa.’ I told him that it should be made of wood so that it burns easier when I lose,” he added.

“I’ve always had belief in this group of players, even over the past weeks when the critics were extremely harsh. But I never doubted because these players already gave me so much that I was confident we would have a good result against South Korea.

“They fought for every ball because they wanted to be in the second round as well. The combination between me as a coach and them as players is something unique. Yes, I am the coach. But I also feel like their friend. So, I’m very happy for them after we qualified for the knockouts.”

A rare World Cup experience

Prior to Broos leading this crop of players to the global stage, it was Portuguese tactician Carlos Queiroz who guided South Africa to World Cup qualification, as far back as 2002. However, after a poor showing at the 2002 Afcon, Queiroz was replaced by Jomo Sono before that year’s World Cup.

It would have been disrespectful for Safa to subject the 2017 Afcon-winning coach to the same fate. Broos found a Bafana Bafana team that was an outcast among the major South African national teams. Just mere qualification for key tournaments such as Afcon and the World Cup was a mammoth challenge. Publicly, there was indifference to the team’s matches.

But Broos has changed this. Whether they are being critical or praising the team, people care about Bafana Bafana again. However, even as the jubilation of Bafana Bafana finally making it out of the group stage during their fourth outing at a World Cup was reaching fever pitch, Broos cautioned that South African soccer needs to do even more.

“This is new for us. That’s why when I arrived in South Africa, I said this country has to be in every big tournament. That’s the level where you learn the most, even when the results are not good, Broos told Safa’s media department. “And we’ve done that. We have been to two Afcons and now we are in the World Cup. But it has to continue. At the next Afcon you have to be there again.”

The Broos effect

Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams showered his coach with high praise, saying the Belgian’s contribution to South African soccer has been immense since Safa appointed him five years ago.

“We worked so hard to be at the World Cup. It was not given to us. It took years of sacrifice for us to keep going, to keep the belief. I can remember when coach Broos took over and he promised that we will be at the 2026 World Cup. And we didn’t want to let him down. We worked so hard as a team [to make that promise become a reality].

“We saw what qualification for the World Cup meant for South Africans. Now we are inspiring a whole nation,” the Bafana Bafana skipper added.

The South Africans can now dream even bigger. In tournament soccer, anything is possible once you reach the knockout stage. Every match is a final and the sharpest team on the day wins. On the back of their self-­assured display against the South Koreans, Bafana Bafana will be brimming with confidence for their tussle against Canada on Sunday, 28 June.

That round-of-32 tussle takes place at 9pm South African time. Although the Canadians will not be easy to topple, they are definitely beatable. DM