The South African coach, Hugo Broos, believes his team would play Nigeria in the semifinals in a different manner than Bafana Bafana did in their quarterfinal encounter on Saturday against Cape Verde.
Williams made an outstanding four penalty saves to guarantee Bafana Bafana’s spot in the semi-finals, where they will face Nigeria, for the first time since 2000.
At a press conference following the game, Broos informed reporters that the encounter against Nigeria will be a whole different “kettle of fish.”
“The semi-final match will be different against Nigeria, which has good players like (Ademola) Lookman.
“We will not lose focus. The players will be in good condition, so we need to rest and recover to start our preparation,” he said.
He noted that the pressure of qualifying for the semi-finals for the first time in AFCON made the game tougher, adding that winning the game by penalty shootout wasn’t a fluke.
“When we got to the penalty shootout, it was a special thing for the players, because during training they were scoring them.
“When we have a goalkeeper who stops four penalty kicks, this is not luck but a lot of hard work.
“There was a lot of pressure in the match. Everyone wanted to qualify.
“This match was unlike the previous ones. We did not show the same performance as we had in previous matches,” he said.
He also noted that not many people in South Africa believed in the team, saying that he was proud of what his boys had achieved so far.
“In spite of all the doubts, we believed in it, and the players believed in themselves as well.
“Reaching the semi-finals is in itself a good thing for South African football,” Broos said.
