Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has revealed the mental challenges of playing for Mamelodi Sundowns which has seen him carry a niggling injury for a year.
Williams has not been active in training for Bafana ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations and missed a friendly match against Lesotho on Wednesday with an injury, although head coach Hugo Broos reassured the media that he will be ready for the opener against Mali next Tuesday.
Read: Broos explains where Bafana got it wrong against Lesotho
The 31-year-old has revealed that his injury is a result of playing too many matches for Sundowns and that the problematic knee niggle has been recurring for a year or so.
"It's a niggle I have on my knee, it's something that recurs with a lot of loading and I've played a lot of games and it's just something I've been managing over the last year or so. It's nothing serious, it's something I need to manage," Williams said in a press conference.
"It's tough, in as much as they try by all means to help us with all the recovery protocol, rest but sometimes it becomes too much, especially the travelling.
"The continent of Africa is so big, it's massive, one day you're in the North, the next you're here in the South, so it's difficult. You could see towards the end of our campaign in December we didn't have the legs," he said.
Read: More trouble looming at Swallows?
The Brazilians have played 30 games already in all competitions midway through the season and the former SuperSport United goalkeeper went on and revealed that mental fatigue is the biggest challenge.
"Sometimes mentally, mental fatigue as well and I think that's the most serious one. The physical you can deal with it but once you start feeling mental fatigue, that's when you don't enjoy football, you don't want to wake up in the morning, because you're so tired and that's the challenge," he added.
