Newly crowned African coach of the year Pitso Mosimane has thanked Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs for keeping Mamelodi Sundowns on their toes.
Mosimane believes the standard of the league has made it possible for his side to conquer the continent.
The Brazilians scooped three awards at the CAF Awards ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria, this week.
Sundowns were named African Club of the Year, Mosimane was voted African Coach of the Year, goalkeeper Denis Onyango won the CAF African Player of the Year Based in Africa, while he, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly made the continent’s best XI team.
Mosimane said he was more than elated about the Club of the Year award as it recognises all the players and technical staff.
“I want to thank my PSL colleagues for pushing us all the way as they helped us to build a strong side. We can now proudly say that the PSL is the best on the continent,” said Mosimane.
He said he hoped the awards would inspire other clubs to go all out in CAF competitions.
But Mosimane says there is still a long way to go.
He said their parti-cipation at the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan was an eye-opener.
The CAF Champions League champions came back home empty-handed after losing their two games.
“We need to improve the quality of our product that we think is good on the continent but not good enough for the entire world. My aim is to go back to the Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi this year and fortunately we know what we need to do to go there.
“It is an expensive ticket because you need to win the domestic league and the Champions League but we will give it our best shot,” said Mosimane.
He said he was looking forward to next month’s CAF Super Cup against Confederation Cup champions TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This game will give us 100% measure of where we are as a club. They are equally good, but maybe even better than us.”