Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams says he feels the national team has sufficient support from the whole country now ahead of AFCON unlike in the previous edition.
South Africa were beheld as mere participants at the previous AFCON tournament. However, they exceeded expectations, eliminating strong sides such as Morocco and Cape Verde before eventually losing to Nigeria in the semifinal.
But they still ended their campaign on a high, defeating DR Congo to claim the bronze medal.
While Williams is pleased with the team’s current progress, he believes the upcoming AFCON will be a “real test.”
“We’ve been in a good space as a team, we’ve done extremely well,” Williams told SABC Sport.
“But now it’s a real test, continue support the team, getting behind us, sending all those well wishes.
“We need all positive and the support now. Yes, there’s been a lot of things going on.
“But we want to put that behind us and we want to go there with a clear mind and give our all.”
He added that the team did not enjoy much national support during the last tournament, but have since earned it, which he believes will help them progress far.
“Definitely, that’s the difference now, we have the support of the whole nation, the whole country is behind us,” he added.
“We feel it, hopefully they can give us that extra motivation in which we need to go a step further.”