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- Bafana and Sundowns keeper Ronwen Williams is happy to be back in the national camp and seeing familiar faces.
- He hopes to help and guide the newer faces in the camp.
- Bafana host Sierra Leone and Botswana in the international break.
After recently joining Mamelodi Sundowns in July this year, Bafana Bafana goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams is happy to be back in the national camp and seeing some familiar faces.
"It's been good to see all the guys here, full camp first day, you know that’s a positive sign," he said.
Bafana host Sierra Leone (24 September) and Botswana (27 September) in friendlies - both are at FNB Stadium - during the upcoming international break, and with the squad having some new faces such as Luke le Roux, Mihlali Mayambela and Melusi Buthelezi, experienced players such as Williams will be expected to guide them.
"It's good for them that the coach is giving them the opportunity," Williams said of the new players in the squad.
"We have a few injuries to the more permanent players who were here before, and it's an opportunity for them [the new players] to take."
Williams expects the experience the newcomers will get from being in the camp will only be beneficial for them and he encourages them to grab the opportunity.
"To put on the South African jersey is a massive honour and there's a lot of pride at stake. For me as the captain, it's about making them feel at home and letting them be at ease.
"I was in their shoes not too long ago and I know how they are feeling; a lot of butterflies. They want to impress so it's just for me to tell them that they're here because the coach and technical team has seen something good in them and they just need to do what they were doing for their club."
The Bafana captain has been in good form for his new club Sundowns, keeping five clean sheets in nine games this season.
"I think the quicker I took off my SuperSport hat the better it was for me, and I think my start to my career at Sundowns has been good," he added.
"The nice thing is I knew most of the players already. I played with them at SuperSport as well as the national team, so it wasn't too much of a transition, it was just to get to know how they do things on that side."
When asked about the difficulty of the upcoming games against Sierra Leone and Botswana, Williams expected it to be very difficult as there are no easy games.
"These two games are not going to be easy, there are no easy games on the African continent anymore and with us playing at home we need to stamp our authority. We need to play our football and we need to go out there and dominate," a calm and confident Williams concluded.
Kick-off on Saturday is at 15:00.
