AFCON 2025: Williams Reveals Key Lessons for Bafana Bafana After Heartbreak

Published on 6 Jan 2026 at 23:05 by Willis Sob

Bafana Bafana captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has admitted that South Africa’s defensive struggles at AFCON are a major concern as the team looks ahead to the 2026 FIFA World Cup in June.

Bafana crashed out of the tournament after a 2-1 defeat to Cameroon in the Round of 16 on Sunday evening, conceding six goals in four matches, a stark contrast to their previous AFCON campaign where they set a record for clean sheets.

“Obviously, we’ve been known to be very solid as a team. We’ve kept a lot of clean sheets over the years. At the previous AFCON, we broke the record. Now you see the amount of goals we conceded in this tournament, obviously it’s a concern.” Williams told SABC Sport

Williams stressed that the team must learn from this setback and tighten up defensively:
“It’s things we have to work on. We know as a team what’s been going on. We have a lot of things to work on and lessons to take.”

Willis Sob

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Willis Sob is an experienced journalist who has been in the game since 2009, covering major assignments around the continent.
His hunger for African football is unmatched, always getting the best angles and facts to feed the fans and quench their thirst.