{"id":33996,"date":"2025-10-09T18:42:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/?p=33996"},"modified":"2025-10-09T18:43:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:43:14","slug":"were-not-thinking-about-fifa-deduction-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/2025\/10\/09\/were-not-thinking-about-fifa-deduction-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"We&#8217;re not thinking about FIFA deduction: Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_33997\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33997\" style=\"width: 770px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33997\" src=\"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-09-at-18.27.20-770x468.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"770\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-09-at-18.27.20-770x468.jpeg 770w, https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-09-at-18.27.20-1170x711.jpeg 1170w, https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-09-at-18.27.20-768x467.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-09-at-18.27.20.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33997\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: Backpagepix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Bafana Bafana captain, Ronwen Williams, says the team is fully focused on securing qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as they prepare for Friday evening\u2019s crucial Group C clash against Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>The Warriors will host Bafana at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban due to a lack of suitable facilities in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n<p>A win against Zimbabwe \u2014 followed by another against Rwanda in Mbombela on Tuesday \u2014 would put South Africa within touching distance of next year\u2019s World Cup finals in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Six points from the two matches would leave Benin as the only side who could catch South Africa, and while they currently top Group C on goal difference, Gernot Rohr\u2019s side have far more difficult-looking fixtures away to Rwanda and Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>Bafana&#8217;s qualification was made more difficult after they were docked three points by FIFA for fielding Teboho Mokoena ineligibly in March.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The three point deduction wasn\u2019t good news, but there is nothing we can do about it,&#8221; Williams told journalists yesterday at the Zimbabwe pre-match press conference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Either way, these two games were going to be important. We\u2019ve got a team that means business,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The South African senior men&#8217;s national team was given a rousing welcome after landing in Durban today.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Hugo Broos&#8217; charges are away to Zimbabwe \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\uddfc at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in a crunch 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u23f0\ufe0f 18h00 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BafanaPride?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BafanaPride<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SABC_Sport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SABC_Sport<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/etk13w9vWK\">pic.twitter.com\/etk13w9vWK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BafanaBafana\/status\/1976269584492535912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>South Africans have rallied behind the team, vowing to support them all the way to qualification.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I need Bafana Bafana to win these 2 games my goodness \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d. It\u2019s literally the only thing I\u2019m thinking about. \ud83e\udd79\ud83d\udc9a<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lionella\ud83c\udf3b (@fruitcakesana) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fruitcakesana\/status\/1976324604554572011?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Bafana Bafana has a crucial match against Zimbabwe, aiming to reclaim the top spot in Group C after a setback with point deductions. It&#8217;s vital for them to secure a win to boost their chances for the World Cup! Let\u2019s rally behind our team as they face this challenge. Hope they<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Julia Obrien (@toehi62414999) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/toehi62414999\/status\/1976296854460489867?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Eish Bafana please\ud83d\ude2d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kentrell (@kentrel94705498) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kentrel94705498\/status\/1976278457257734246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Written by: Ntsako Mukhari\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bafana Bafana captain, Ronwen Williams, says the team is fully focused on securing qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as they prepare for Friday evening\u2019s crucial Group C clash against Zimbabwe. The Warriors will host Bafana at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban due to a lack of suitable ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1323,1256,1437,1518,1517,1325,1377,1378],"class_list":["post-33996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bafana-bafana","tag-durban","tag-fifa","tag-points-deduction","tag-ronwen-williams","tag-teboho-mokoena","tag-world-cup-qualifiers","tag-zimbabwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-10-09-at-18.27.20.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33996"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33999,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33996\/revisions\/33999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}