Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has urged South African clubs to take continental club competitions seriously and not make excuses for not doing well.
Mosimane was speaking after Masandawana thrashed Nigerian side Lobi Stars 3-0 on Saturday to book their spot in the CAF Champions League quarter-finals.
The Sundowns mentor also encouraged South Africa's biggest clubs to make playing and winning CAF tournaments a priority.
Mosimane said: "It's important for South African football to have teams like Chiefs and Pirates in the final of the Champions League.
"We have quality, our league is top quality and we must not have excuses. We don't have excuses not to represent the country in the Champions League, why do Algerians have two teams in the group stages.
"Tunisians have two teams, Egyptians have two, but in South Africa, you only have one, we need to have two and we need to stay longer in the tournament and the CAF confederation (Cup).
"I think we can and what is the problem, we can't complain about budgets. I mean how do the other teams get the budget. Simba FC in Tanzania are in the group stages, where do they get the budget?"
Mosimane also said CAF club tournaments help Bafana Bafana when the players are used to traveling and playing regular on the continent.
The Sundowns coach added: "These tournaments are very important for our national team, when you see Percy playing for Bafana against Nigeria with Mshishi (Themba Zwane), it's because we played against Enyimba here and away.
"I'm happy I saw Chiefs people, Celtic, SuperSport people and okay it's a national agenda. And we have to team up and fight this fight against anything from outside."