Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams has urged his side to remain calm and approach their crucial Fifa World Cup qualifier against Rwanda at Mbombela Stadium tonight at 6pm with a positive mindset.
Williams admitted that anxiety got the better of them during their disappointing goalless draw with Zimbabwe in their last match and became so desperate to get the job done.
Bafana head into their last qualifier against Rwanda in second place in Group C with 15 points, two behind leaders Benin, who will face Nigeria also tonight.
Bafana will qualify if they beat Rwanda and Nigeria beat Benin in their match, and Williams is optimistic that they can still qualify.
"The last game we had anxiety, and you could see in a lot of moments we were not the calm team that we've become because we wanted to get the job done so desperately, and that was one thing I spoke to the guys about, 'don't doubt yourselves, just play the way we have been playing'," Williams told the media during the press conference at Mbombela Stadium yesterday.
"There were lots of moments in the Zimbabwe game, we became too desperate and you could see that's not us. We don't want to put too much pressure on our shoulders. We want to be calm and make the right decisions. So, let's go tomorrow (today) with the same mindset and be calm and make history for the country."
We want to be calm and
— Ronwen Williams, Bafana Bafana captain
make the right decisions. The most important factor is us winning our game
While Bafana will need to win their match and hope other results go their way, Williams insists they won't be paying any attention to the Nigeria versus Benin match, which will start at the same time.
"There are so many factors going into this game and that will play a big role, but for me, the most important factor is us winning our game and focusing on what we can do," he said.
"We can't control what happens in Nigeria, we've to be super focused on our game because Rwanda won't make it easy for us. We saw that with Zimbabwe, which didn't have anything to play for. They gave their all.
"So, we expect Rwanda to be the same and it is for us to focus on our game and know what we can do, hopefully, win the game with as many goals as possible and then we will get the feeling from the supporters what's going on that side [Nigeria], and if we see fans celebrating we will know Nigeria are leading, we are experienced enough."
Sowetan
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