Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane applauded the emergence of underdog teams in the CAF Champions League while bemoaning the faltering ways of SA clubs.

The Brazilians sailed into the group stages of the competition after overcoming a resilient Rayon Sports 2-0 in the preliminary round.

They had to dig deep, and goals from Wayne Arendse and Sibusiso Vilakazi secured a passage to the next round.

While Sundowns have made qualifying for this phase a habit, there were also a number of surprises as Township Rollers (Botswana), Horoya (Guinea), Mbabane Swallows (Swaziland), AS Togo (Togo) and KCCA (Uganda) progressed for the first time.

But Cape Town City were dumped out of the CAF Confederation Cup while Bidvest Wits slipped down after losing their Champions League preliminary round.

SuperSport United were the only other SA team to win their round.

The former CAF Coach of the Year hopes to avoid TP Mazembe in his team's group ahead of the draw tomorrow.

"If we don't qualify as a club then how do you do it as a nation? We have to stop complaining about travelling and all that," Mosimane said.

"The mentality has to be different in South Africa; we are well-sponsored.

"There are new boys who are coming [Mbabane Swallows, KCCA and Township Rollers]. The challenge is Mazembe, no one wants Mazembe. We don't want them in our group."

The former Bafana Bafana boss reiterated that Sundowns have an obligation to represent the country in continental football every season.

"It's the vision of the club to go to the Champions League and it's important that we go to the group stages irrespective of what is happening locally.

"We have to, that's the level of a big team."

On the domestic front, Sundowns are still in contention for the Absa Premiership and Nedbank Cup.