Royal AM co-coach Abram Nteo says it was not an embarrassment to see his side crash out in the CAF Confederation Cup at the hands of T.P Mazembe.
The KwaZulu-Natal side lost 1-0 to Mazembe in the Confed Cup playoffs at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday and 3-0 on aggregate.
Royal AM reached this stage after beating Eswatini side Mbabane Highlands and Zambian giants ZESCO United in the first and second preliminary rounds.
They will now focus on the league and the Nedbank Cup, the only competitions they will play until the end of the season.
“I’m very proud to play a team like Mazembe because they have experience and it will motivate the boys that they can play with the best,” said Nteo after the game.
“So for me, I’m saying to them and I’m going to talk to them after the press conference, that they have done so well until now even though we didn’t qualify for the group stages but they have done much better.
“You could see they wanted to qualify, they wanted to play and the improvement was there for them, they shouldn’t give up. It was good for them to be part of this competition and I’m happy everyone participated.”
Marumo Gallants will be the only South African side who will feature in the Confed Cup group stages after they crushed Ali Ahli Tripoli of Libya in the same stage.
Cape Town City, who had dropped down in the Confed Cup playoffs, lost to USM Alger of Algeria by 1-0 on aggregate.
Mazembe is one the most experienced sides on the African continent, having won this competition twice and most recently in 2017 where they beat SuperSport United in the final. They also won it in 2016.
Before that, they won the CAF Champions League in 2015, beating the same Algerian side USM Alger in the final.
But things have not been the same, with their chairman Moise Katumbi not investing his money heavily in the squad and at times living in Belgium due to the political upheaval in Congo.
Nteo said they are eager to go back again in the Confed Cup next season, with two routes left – to either finish third or win the Ke Yona Cup.
“We want to finish in the top four, that means we are able to play in the Confed Cup again,” said Nteo. “But we want to maintain the top eight again. So we need to win games and that is the most important thing so that we can finish in the top four.”
Currently, Royal AM are ninth in the DStv Premiership table with 16 points after 12 matches. They will resume the league on 30 December against Cape Town City away after the FIFA World Cup.
