Ronwen Williams eyes redemption after 2022 World Cup qualifiers pain

Bafana finished level on 12 points with the Black Stars, after a disputed penalty separated them in Cape Coast, and the West Africans then went on to beat Nigeria to seal their tickets to Qatar.

Williams remembers how a young Ethan Brooks cried during a press conference held at SAFA House, in which the association lodged an official challenge of the match outcome. 

"Ja, that was hard, and I think that one hurt way more because the team was very young. I remember when we were at the press conference, you saw Ethan Brooks crying, and I can still picture that," said Williams.

"After that, you saw the spirit that we had since that defeat away to Ghana, and the team that we've become – so that defeat and heartbreak was very tough on the team, but we used that to fuel us to push and keep going, and we worked even harder.

"Because we knew that, on the African continent, they make things very difficult for you, and that's what we learnt that year."

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Despite all the permutations, Williams says they are firmly focussed on beating Rwanda by as big a margin as possible.

Mbombela Stadium is also infamously remembered for the “Dance of Shame”, when Bafana players danced around the match venue, erroneously thinking they had qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations under then-coach Pitso Mosimane. 

But the skipper believes they can finally rewrite that piece of unwanted history. 

"I believe in fairytales because, when they asked us last month where we wanted to play, most of the players said either Port Elizabeth or Cape Town because of the support we got there [previously]," he revealed.

"And then for some weird reason we just heard that we're coming to Mbombela, and maybe now it's time to write our wrongs from so many years ago because people still mention that, and it's something that will probably sit with Bafana Bafana forever.

"But hopefully we can rewrite the script and, like I said, I believe in fairytales – today we go again, calculators will be out at Mbombela, so hopefully things can go in our favour now.

"Hopefully the football gods will be on our side, and we all will be dancing – maybe even rock the same dance that they did that time [in 2012]."