26 October 2024 – Goalkeeper Jessica Williams is happy to be back in the South African senior women’s national team fold after being in and out of the squad a few times.
The shot stopper is the talk of the town after she scored a brilliant free kick against Eswatini as COSAFA Banyana Banyana won 3-0 in a Group A match at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium on Friday. Coach Maud Khumalo was impressed by Williams’ kicking ability and technique during the team’s training sessions and asked the goalkeeper to take the set-pieces yesterday. The goalkeeper, who was voted player of the match, brilliantly took the shot from long range and beat her counterpart 10 minutes into the second half.
Williams said she started to take an interest in football at a very young age after she regularly accompanied her father to watch games at the local sports grounds in Parkwood, Cape Town, on weekends.
“It started with my dad because we had these Sunday league matches when I was growing up in the neighborhood in Parkwoods. I would go to the field with my dad, I was a daddy’s girl, and we would watch the games. I would just follow him around the field, cheer for the boys and then kick a ball around. I think that is where it started,” she said.
“The problem is I used to also do beauty pageants. My mom would be angry with me because I’d have a pageant on a Sunday but then the day before I was kicking a ball. I would come home with a hole in my leg, those were the days, but it started off like that.”
The midfielder turned goalkeeper said it wasn’t her first choice to make the switch, but she eventually grew into the position.
“There’s isn’t much to say, I’m not gonna lie, about how I came to play for the team I am with now. I started in the Hollywoodbets Super League with Vasco, and before that I was at Spurs. That is where I actually started playing in goal, before that I used to play in-field with the boys. Then one of my friends, one of the girls in the neighborhood who is now my friend, told me to play for her team or the team that she played for at the time, which was Spurs in Cape Town. I joined the team and obviously played as an in-field player. I got a bad injury and then at the time coach Desiree Ellis was, I think, involved in the set-up and she told me to become a goalkeeper because my height was rare, as well as my kicking ability.”
Williams said it took a bit of time for her family to warm up to the idea of her fully committing to football. But in the end they became her biggest fans, particularly her little sister.
“They were shocked. I think my mom more than anyone else, but they were understanding and were able to see that this girl is taking herself seriously. They saw that I was actually putting in the hours.”
Williams, who said her ambition is to play for French side Paris Saint-Germain one day, said her biggest critics are her family, especially her little sister.
