After Ronwen Williams marked his 50th cap for Bafana Bafana, a former Kaizer Chiefs coach has shared the key role he played in helping the goalkeeper achieve this milestone.
Prior to making his 50th appearance for Bafana in their final Africa Cup of Nations group qualifier against South Sudan in Cape Town, Williams revealed that his debut for the national team, in a 5-0 defeat, is a game that shaped his career.
'Ronza' was always touted as the goalkeeper next in line to take over from former Amakhosi shot-stopper Itumeleng Khune.
However, there were doubts over the reliability of the Gqeberha native goal minder and the 32-year-old only started to establish himself after he signed with Mamelodi Sundowns two years ago.
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Although most of improvement seemed to have happened at Sundowns, former Chiefs and SuperSport United coach Stuart Baxter has revealed that he and his son Lee, had to work on Williams' self belief, because he doubted himself after he conceded five goals against Brazil.
"Working with Lee [Baxter] on a daily basis was important at the time, because Lee was a consummate professional, he trained as hard as the goalkeeper and Ronza needed that," Baxter said on Mike Morton Talks Football YouTube Channel.
"One of Ronza's problems was, even though he was a great goalkeeper, he didn't know that. He didn't believe that. In his first game for the national team they got smashed by Brazil.
"I told him a story about Peter Shilton, I said, 'Ronza, this is [affecting] your confidence, if you were to go to the national team now, you would be wetting yourself, I said, 'We just need to get you to a place where you would walk off the training ground, into the national team, stand up and believe in yourself'. Shilton let a goal between his legs in his first game against Scotland and you don't want that, not when you're an English man. He was battered but he went on to play [125] games for England," Baxter added.
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After becoming the first Africa-based shot-stopper be nominated for the Ballon d'Or Goalkeeper of the Year award, Williams has received multiple nominations for the CAF end of season awards, including CAF Player of the Year.
