THE absence of star goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has highlighted the lack of top-flight shot-stoppers in the Premier Soccer League.
National men’s team coach Hugo Broos aired his views on the South African goalkeeper situation during a recent press conference at the SABC studios in Auckland Park.
Williams is not available for Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Friday (6pm) and South Sudan in Juba on Tuesday, September 10 (3pm).
He is recovering from an operation on a shoulder injury he initially sustained while at the Afcon finals in January. He has been a star performer and managed five clean sheets in seven games during the time he captained Bafana Bafana.
Apart from his goalkeeping ability, Williams is a terrific distributor after gathering the ball. With the feeds to teammates, often positioned in the opposition half, he can initiate attacks.
On occasions, analysts have thought about crediting Williams with a goal assist after his club Mamelodi Sundowns or Bafana scored soon after he brought teammates into play.
Even before Williams’ absence, goalkeeping in South Africa has been a concern for Broos.
The PSL treats the SA Football Association and its officials with disdain, so no attention would have been paid to Broos’ concerns. It is something that Broos has thought about, and he even identified players he wanted to include in the national squad and prepare them for the future.
Many clubs in the PSL’s top flight, the Betway Premiership, and the second-tier Motsepe Foundation Championship have foreign goalkeepers in their squads.
“I am a little bit surprised that there are a lot of foreign goalkeepers in the league (PSL),” said Broos.
“It’s a little bit better now because South African goalkeepers are getting chances in the PSL ahead of international goalkeepers.
“We have good goalkeepers like Ronwen, Veli (Mothwa) and Sipho (Chaine) now. There is also Ricardo (Goss).
“Those guys and (Bruce) Bvuma are all good goalkeepers, (but) I think he will not get his chance again at (Kaizer) Chiefs (after the club signed Rwandan goalkeeper Fiacre Ntwari).
“The goalkeeping department is not the problem. We have enough goalkeepers, and they also are not too old. That is not the problem.
“If you have a guy like Ronwen, who will not be here for these two games, then you have a little problem. He is not only a good goalkeeper but also a good captain.”
Broos has opted to start with Chaine in the match against Uganda. He would have impressed Broos with his Player of the Match performance for Orlando Pirates against Cape Town City in the midweek MTN8 semi-final first leg.
Chaine was so impressive that Pirates’ goalkeeping legend Innocent Mayoyo said that in this kind of form, Chaine could help the team win the league.
Chaine will earn his first Bafana cap on Friday and Broos is confident he’ll justify his selection.
“Sipho is a very good goalkeeper,” said Broos.
“Because Ronwen is not there, choosing between him and Bvuma, we made the choice quickly. Sipho is playing, and he is playing well for Pirates.
“He has international experience after playing in the preliminary round of the Champions League. He is a good goalkeeper, and for the moment, he is the ideal replacement for Ronwen.”