On Thursday night at the Estadio Azteca, Ronwen Williams will do something no South African goalkeeper has ever done before. He will walk out as captain.
It is a moment that Alex Heredia – the Argentina-born coach who first brought Williams into the Bafana Bafana environment as a teenager – says was always coming. Not because of luck or circumstance. Because of who Williams is and how he was built.
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“We sometimes called him up as a fourth goalkeeper to train with Itumeleng Khune, Moeneeb Josephs, Calvin Marlin and others,” Heredia told SportsBoom.
“Even then you could see he was a big talent. We wanted him to get used to a high level of training and get a feel for how things work at an international level. Training with top keepers gave him invaluable experience.”
That education laid the foundation for everything that followed. Williams absorbed the habits, the standards and the mentality of South Africa’s greatest ever goalkeepers – and built something entirely his own from it.
Heredia has watched goalkeepers across Africa and abroad for 43 years. His assessment of Williams is unequivocal.
“He is a top shot-stopper, excellent with his feet, brave and always aware of his surroundings. His game management from the back is superb. He has a big personality and has bounced back from setbacks. It was inevitable he would become South Africa’s number one.”
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Heredia acknowledges that Williams’ height may have cost him a move to one of Europe’s elite leagues – pointing to the towering frames of Martinez, Alisson, Courtois and Donnarumma as the modern benchmark.
But he insists it never diminished the quality. Williams enters Mexico fresh from winning the CAF Champions League with Mamelodi Sundowns – the complete goalkeeper at the peak of his powers.
Yet behind the celebration Heredia carries a worry that goes beyond Thursday. The golden generation that shaped Williams – Khune, Meyiwa, Josephs, Marlin, Baron – is gone.
Williams, Chaine and Goss are all between 28 and 31. There is no 21-year-old pushing through in the PSL. Heredia has proposed a moratorium on foreign goalkeepers at PSL clubs and a complete overhaul of goalkeeper coaching education to force clubs to develop local talent.
“South Africa will struggle to produce another Ronwen Williams or Itumeleng Khune if young goalkeepers don’t get opportunities. That is the challenge we face.”
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
