{"id":44316,"date":"2025-12-07T12:11:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T12:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=44316"},"modified":"2025-12-07T12:11:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T12:11:51","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignronwen-williams-excited-for-bafana-bafanas-world-cup-opener-against-hosts-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/12\/07\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignronwen-williams-excited-for-bafana-bafanas-world-cup-opener-against-hosts-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronwen Williams excited for Bafana Bafana\u2019s World Cup opener against hosts Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\">&#13;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_170488\" style=\"width: 588px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-170488\" class=\"wp-image-170488 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ronwen-Williams-excited-for-Bafana-Bafanas-World-Cup-opener-against.jpg?resize=578%2C402&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"578\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ronwen-Williams-excited-for-Bafana-Bafanas-World-Cup-opener-against.jpg 578w, https:\/\/fakazanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Ronwen-Williams-300x209.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-170488\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams says he\u2019s excited about starting South Africa\u2019s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign against hosts Mexico in Mexico City.<\/p>\n<p>The national team was drawn into Group A during Friday\u2019s draw in Washington, placing them alongside Mexico, South Korea and a European side still to be confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Ireland will compete in March for the final spot in the group.<\/p>\n<p>Williams told SuperSport that the draw immediately reminded him of the 2010 World Cup opener, where South Africa and Mexico played to a memorable 1-1 draw at FNB Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt feels like a repeat of 2010,\u201d he said, adding that facing the host nation again would be \u201cgreat,\u201d even though the home crowd will heavily favour Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper also expects a bit of familiarity when they meet South Korea.<\/p>\n<p>Sundowns recently beat Ulsan HD 1-0 in their opening match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, a game in which Williams kept a clean sheet and Iqraam Rayners scored the winner.<\/p>\n<p>He believes South Korea\u2019s squad will feature several players from that Ulsan side.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the tough group, Williams is confident South Africa can challenge for a place in the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that predicting where points will come from is impossible, but Bafana will approach each match with belief and determination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not going there just to make up the numbers,\u201d he said, noting that the team wants to measure how far they\u2019ve progressed as a football nation.<\/p>\n<p>While he emphasised that his comments aren\u2019t intended to add pressure, Williams said the players are motivated by the opportunity, especially since it has been many years since South Africa last featured at the global showpiece.<\/p>\n<p>He believes the squad has what it takes to advance beyond the group stage.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 4 -->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Ronwen #Williams #excited #Bafana #Bafanas #World #Cup #opener #hosts #Mexico<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams says he\u2019s excited about starting South Africa\u2019s 2026 FIFA World&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44318,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44316\/revisions\/44318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}