Three SA soccer clubs to battle on African stage

Former Mamelodi Sundowns captain and Bafana Bafana midfielder, Hlompho Kekana, believes South African teams have what it takes to match the dominant north African sides in the CAF inter-club competitions.

Both Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch F.C have booked themselves a place in this season’s quarter-finals of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Condederation Cup respectively, with a game to spare.

On the other hand, Mamelodi Sundowns need at least a point on Sunday evening to also advance to the last-8 of the Champions League.

Kekana says “The excitement. I did mention is that the two teams that are in the champions league they always give me hope that we will always be a threat to the North Africans. Everybody in the continent knows them because if  we don’t have one team, we have three, four, five teams that are participating in this, then we become stronger and we know what are the demands of the tournament. When we meet as South Africans on talent and other things we will match them. We will be on top of them because we’ve got players that can win difficult matches.”

South Africa looks set to have three teams in the quarter-finals of the CAF inter-club competitions for the very first time this season.
Despite being in a very tricky group, Orlando Pirates defied all the odds and registered an unexpected victory away in Algeria in November last year.

Their win at home last weekend ensured they reached the quarter-finals for the first time in more than a decade.

Mamelodi Sundowns also got a credible draw away to AS Far in Rabat, and host them in Pretoria on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Stellenbosch will be playing an away match to another Moroccan club, RSB Berkane, on Sunday evening, knowing that they’ve secured a spot in the Confederations Cup quarterfinals.

SA teams make a mark in continental football: