Although Williams has missed the influence of his brother, he has not been short of family support.
“I can remember when coach Hugo Broos announced me as captain, the family had a gathering,” he recalled.
“I still have all those photos and videos, and just to see what it meant to them. I’m sure that joy and pride and happiness has probably doubled, if not tripled, now that I’m going into a World Cup.”
For the past five years, Williams has had a new father figure in Broos, the Belgian coach who led Cameroon to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title in 2017.
Appointed to lead South Africa in 2021 with Bafana Bafana very much in the doldrums, the 74-year-old immediately made Williams his skipper and has re-energised the squad, leading them to a third-place finish at the 2023 Afcon and ensuring they topped their World Cup qualifying group – booking a place at the tournament for the fourth time.
Williams even goes so far as to say that Broos has “united” the country after bringing “belief and love” back to the team and South Africa itself.
“Two, three years ago we were crying for the supporters to come out and support us. And he mentioned that it goes hand in hand with performance, with results,” the 34-year-old added.
“When we started picking up the results, that’s when the belief came back.
“Now people can’t wait for Bafana Bafana to play. Buying our merch, sending us the well wishes.
“He’s been amazing, exceptional.”
South Africa finished above Nigeria in their qualifying group, winning five of their 10 games.
But they went out of the most recent Afcon in the last 16, and after a 2-1 home defeat by Panama in March, Williams is not getting carried away as his team prepare to face Mexico, Czech Republic and South Korea in Group A.
“I think we need to be realistic about our chances. The most important thing is to get out of the group,” Williams said.
“The mentality that we need to have is: can we compete? Can we show up? Can we perform?”
While South Africa picked up four points in their group in 2002 and 2010, they have never made it into the second round of a World Cup, meaning a place in the last 32 of the newly expanded tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA would represent progress.
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