Bafana Bafana captain and Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has been hitting greater heights consistently at both the club and international level.
Last season, he helped Masandawana win their seventh consecutive Premier Soccer League title and the inaugural African Football League. He also won bronze with South Africa in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations competition held in Ivory Coast.
It explains why the 32-year-old has been nominated for Ballon d'Or Yashin Trophy alongside PSG's Gianluigi Donnarumma, Giorgi Mamardashvili of Valencia, Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Diogo Costa (Porto), Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund), Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid), Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao) and Yann Sommer).
Williams is just the fourth custodian from Africa to be nominated for the award after Andre Onana (Cameroon), Yassine Bounou (Morocco), and Edouard Mendy (Senegal).
What makes Williams better ‘than anyone else?'
In his interview with Far Post, Bafana Bafana and SuperSport United goalkeepers' trainer Grant Johnson has revealed Williams' strengths that can't be matched.
“There are a few attributes that make him better than anyone else. Firstly, his distribution, it is right up there in world football, I don’t know anybody who distributes as well as he does, that’s a big part of his game.
“Even when he plays from the back, he is comfortable on the ball, and I think over the years, he has grown in confidence and in stature, and he has taken on the captaincy, and that just made him more confident.”
How did Williams rise to the top?
Johnson has further revealed his advise to Williams on what he should do to become one of the best in the continent.
“His Caf [Champions League] experience with Sundowns has helped him to grow in leaps and bounces; he is at the top of his game at the moment. I always say goalkeepers reach their best from the age of 30 because they have learnt from their mistakes, and that’s how you get experience by playing and making mistakes but learning from those mistakes,” he added.
“I have always told him that a good keeper is a consistent keeper. You can’t have one good season, and then everybody says you are fantastic. You got to have four, five good seasons to be a top goalkeeper, in my view, and that is what he has done over the last couple of years.
“He has become confident and worked on his weaknesses, and those have now become strengths, so he is just a top goalkeeper.”
Recently, Williams extended his stay at Sundowns to 2028 and with his performances, he is expected to continue as Bafana's first-choice goalkeeper.
