With Mamelodi Sundowns having had a bad start in the MTN8 and got back to winning ways in the Premiership and CAF Champions League, a goalkeeper coaching has weighed in on the possible turnaround.
Sundowns could not score a single goal in regulation time in the MTN8, after needing an own goal to eliminate Polokwane City 1-0 in the quarter-finals and lost two semi-final legs both 1-0 against Stellenbosch.
Although the Brazilians got back to winning ways after head coach Manqoba Mngqithi made wholesale changes in their CAF Champions League second preliminary round first leg against Mbabane Swallows and kept the same team for the Premiership games.
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The biggest factor in their turnaround appears to be the return of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, who missed the MTN8 fixtures due to injury and only got back when the Tshwane giants played against Swallows in the first-leg.
Even though Sundowns conceded only two goals in four games when the 32-year-old was in goal, former Moroka Swallows goalkeeper Greg Etafia, who is now the goalkeeper coach at TS Galaxy, believes Williams' role in how Masandawana builds from the back cannot be understated.
"Ronwen does it perfectly at Sundowns, you can see how Sundowns were coming out [from the back] when he was not there and now see the games when he plays, how they come out, he has a [passing] accuracy of about 78 percent, he even touches the ball more than some players," Etafia said on TimesLive Video YouTube Channel.
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"Even in the national team, he has confidence, he's comfortable. Every goalkeeper can play from the back but when you're under pressure can you play from the back? As a goalkeeper coach, I always say every goalkeeper around the world can play from the back, if I don't put pressure on you.
"But are you able to play under pressure? That's when you become a great goalkeeper. Ronwen has been doing it very well and he has mastered it so well, that even other teams that analyse Sundowns and Bafana they don't pressurize him [when he has the ball]. Because you try to press and he plays, your team has one player short now, because the other guy would be free," Etafia added.
Bafana also struggled without Williams in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, after a 2-2 draw against Uganda, following costly errors by shot-stopper Veli Mothwa and needed a last-gasp winner to edge South Sudan 3-2.
