Grant Johnson confident Ronwen Williams will handle Morocco spotlight

Speaking to the media at the team’s Castle Lager send-off event, Johnson believes, after Williams’ heroics last year in Ivory Coast, all eyes will be on him again.  

As they build up to the tournament, the former SuperSport United assistant coach says it’s important to cover all the angles their opponents will be looking to exploit. 

"Ronwen is a key player in the team and he always has been, but over the last couple of years, I'm sure since the last AFCON, teams have been analysing us and Ronwen, and how he plays and what he does," said Johnson.

"But probably one of his most important aspects is how he leads the team, and he creates the tempo within the team – the speed of play, whether we're going to play from the back or play it long, or whatever – Ronwen creates that.

"So we might have a few changes, we'll see how that goes, there might be a few surprises but I'm confident Ronwen will lead the team very well and we've got good structure at the back, and I'm quite confident in our offensive [ability]."

READ: Nine AFCON records you need to know ahead of Morocco 2025

With Bafana’s spine having remained almost the same from the 2023 edition, except for the two centre-backs, Johnson says they will aim to capitalise on having one of the best attacks in their group. 

"I think any team, your spine of the team is the key, and our spine has almost remained the same – that's your goalkeepers, your two centre-backs, two central midfielders and a striker," he added.

"And in those departments we have experience, we have players that have been to AFCON before and I really believe we have the ability to go far."