Mark Williams urges SA to rally behind Bafana Bafana ahead of AFCON

South Africa will play their opening match of the tournament against Angola exactly a week from today, with more Group B clashes against record champions Egypt and neighbours Zimbabwe scheduled before the turn of the year.

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Williams – nicknamed ‘The Nation Builder’ due to his winning goal in the final some three decades ago – says the team can return home with the trophy if they have the country’s support.

"When you look at the Bokke, from Friday people are already celebrating - what is the difference? Because we have the people in our country everybody loves football. The squad is there, the coach is there, just that they need to believe but it starts with us - we need to believe that they can do it. If we do that, they can go all the way to win the trophy," said Williams.

Williams says while the numbers have not been at their highest in Gauteng, it’s encouraging to see Bafana games sold out in the other provinces. He acknowledged that the team also has to do their part and get positive results to retain the crowds, and possibly attract more.

"It is just in Joburg that we spoiled. But if you look at other provinces in Bloemfontein it was packed, Polokwane, Cape Town and that made people realise how important football is. Football brings the nation together, the fans have changed because of results - everybody likes a winning team," added Williams.

Bafana will play one more tune-up match against Ghana at the Dobsonville stadium tomorrow, before departing for Morocco on Wednesday - but disappointingly only 6863 tickets have been confirmed to be sold so far – for a 24 000 capacity venue.

Williams adds it’s good for Hugo Broos’ side to play against the best teams in preparation for major tournaments like AFCON and the World Cup.

"I want to see them play competitive games before they go to the World Cup, it is a preparation. We played Germany, England, we played Argentina, preparation is important in anything you do if you ask me," he expressed.

Speaking of Broos, he’s made headlines recently after expressing his displeasure at defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi’s signing with US team Chicago Fire, while he also ripped into the youngster after arriving late in camp last week. Williams says while players have to make the right moves for their careers, the coach should have also exercised some restraint.