THE GAP ISN’T BIG

BAFANA Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams says the gap between South Africa’s game and the best teams in the world isn’t big. 

Williams and his Sundowns brasse know what they are talking about, currently playing in the Club World Cup in the US where they are facing the cream of the crop in the beautiful game. 

Downs won their first match against South Korean club Ulsan and then proved that they can hang with the big boys, going down 4-3 to German giants Borussia Dortmund in their Group F match on Saturday. 

The South Africans took the lead through Lucas Ribiero in the 11th minute, but it was a howler by Williams that saw the momentum swing in the match. 

The keeper got a backpass and then passed it straight at the feet of Felix Nmecha, who punished Downs to make it 1-1. A Khuliso Mudau own goal made it 4-1 in the 59th minute, before Downs fought back. But those two mistakes proved costly, with Williams saying: “Of course, it’s not nice to concede a goal like that, but we are a team that takes risks. “When I received the ball, I saw Tebza [Mokoena] there, but he got a call from Marcelo [Allende] to move away as soon as I passed the ball, so it was just one of those unfortunate situations; we learn from it and keep going.  

“We showed that we can compete, if your mentality is right you can go out there and compete with the best… the gap is not that big and we proved it once again.” 

He added: “I think all of their goals were mistakes from us, and at this level you get punished. Where we come from, we get away with it. These are good lessons.”

Downs next face log leaders Fluminense on Wednesday in what is a must-win clash if they want to be guaranteed of a place in the playoffs. 

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“I feel that. I feel a double emotion. The first one is that obviously we are not happy, and not being happy is a wonderful sensation at this moment. It means that we competed at the highest level and we do not feel happy after playing Borussia Dortmund,” said Cardoso.

“That’s some strange place to be, with big respect for Borussia. What I’m saying is that it was clear that today we pushed the level of the game to the maximum, to the highest level, and we had good play, an open game against such a strong opponent.”