Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams says they still have themselves to decide their fate when they face Zimbabwe in Friday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
After being docked three points by FIFA for illegally fielding a suspended Teboho Mokoena against Lesotho in March, South Africa lost Group C top spot and slid down to second, allowing Benin to leapfrog them.
However, they are tied on 14 points each with Benin, who, however, enjoy a superior goal difference.
That leaves Bafana needing to win their remaining games against Zimbabwe and Rwanda. But at the same time, they are praying for the Cheetahs to drop points either against Nigeria or Rwanda to reclaim top spot and earn themselves automatic qualification for the World Cup.
Benin’s are away in their last two games, but Williams says they are not banking on other teams to do business for them.
WILLIAMS RALLIES BAFANA TO GET THE JOB DONE THEMSELVES
“We know what’s at stake, it’s coming to the end now, and it’s the business end of the qualifiers, but nothing needs to change, and we just have to be the team that we have been in the last two or three years,” said Williams.
“We’ve been growing, we’ve been so good, but we need to finish it off on a good note, we set ourselves high standards. When we started the World Cup campaign, we said we want to be there, we want to qualify and it’s close now.”
“It’s in our hands and I think that’s the most important thing that we are not going to look for favours or rely on other teams. We want to get the job done and that’s the mentality that we all have in camp,” the Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper continued.
“We have got two important games, we know how tough it is going to be. They are not going to make it easy for us and we don’t expect them to. If you have to see how training was this week, you can see that the boys mean business and they know how important it is for us to qualify.”
What could make life difficult for Benin is that they face Rwanda and Nigeria, who are still within striking distance of qualifying for the World Cup, and that could play to Bafana’s advantage.
The Super Eagles are third on the table with 11 points, the same as fourth-placed Rwanda, making the final games of this group a potential spectacle.
Bafana are bidding to qualify for the first time since 2002, having participated at the 2010 edition as hosts.
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