Africa: Williams Encouraged By TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Experience Ahead of Morocco Clash

13 June 2023
Confederation of African Football (Giza)

South African captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams says his Mamelodi Sundowns teammates in the Bafana Bafana squad need to draw from their TotalEnergies CAF Champions League experience when they take on Morocco on Saturday.

Bafana Bafana welcome the Atlas Lions to Soweto's FNB Stadium for their final TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, where both sides will be using the fixture to assess their preparations for Africa's biggest football event, having both sealed their places in Cote D'Ivoire next year.

Williams, who was voted South Africa's best goalkeeper in the country's domestic end of season awards was speaking from the High Performance Centre in the nation's capital, where they are camping ahead of Saturday's fixture against the Atlas Lions.

Bafana Bafana boast nine Sundowns players with TotalEnergies CAF Champions League experience, something that the shot-stopper believes will come in handy on Saturday afternoon in Soweto.

"Playing at that level (Champions League) and going all the way to the semi-finals gives one experience of playing high quality games against high quality opposition. These games are not easy, and they help us, especially at national team level", said Williams.

In addition to the Sundowns players, Bafana Bafana's attack will be led by two-time African Champion, Percy Tau, who is fresh from lifting the coveted TotalEnergies CAF Champions League with Al Ahly this past weekend in Casablanca.

The Sundowns shot-stopper was also encouraged at the fact that more South African clubs will be competing in CAF Inter-Club competitions next season, saying that this will benefit the national team.

"The experience that you get from these tournaments is crucial and we can see it with Sundowns playing Champions League year in, year out where the experience gained comes in handy. Also, having a few more South African teams next season will obviously help the team going forward for such fixtures", concluded the skipper.

South Africa will have four clubs participating in CAF Interclub competitions next year with Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, while SuperSport United and debutants, Sekhukhune United will fly the South African flag in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup.

Read the original article on CAF.

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