The experience gained through playing in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) club competitions is so priceless that Bidvest Wits players cannot take it for granted.
This was well articulated by Bafana Bafana and Wits defender Buhle Mkhwanazi following his club's 0-0 draw against Horoya AC in the opening round of the Caf Confederation Cup group phase last weekend.
Over the past few years Wits have been taking part in Caf competitions but it was only this year that they qualified for the group stages of any of the two cups on offer.
Mkhwanazi, who has been a regular feature in Bafana's defence in recent years alongside his teammate and skipper Thulani Hlatshwayo, said there's a big gulf between the SA league and Caf club competitions.
"Playing in Caf competitions in Africa is nice, but very competitive," said Mkhwanazi, whose team is up gainst Djoliba in Bamako, Mali, today (6pm SA time) in what will be their second Group C match.
"It's not easy, but you know as a player that you need such games so that you can see how far you can go in terms of your ability.
"It's different from our league. Our league is not that physical. So going into these tournaments you need to change the concept and approach to games. It's a great platform to grow your career as a player."
That mission to develop will continue today for Mkhwanazi and company playing against Djoliba, who are in the group stages of the Confed Cup for the first time since 2012.
The last time Djoliba were in this competition was in 2017 when they were eliminated by Al-Masry of Egypt in the preliminary round.
But the Djoliba team that Wits will face at the Stade du 26 Mars is a competitive one judging by their incredible 1-1 draw away to Libyan club Al-Nasr last weekend.
Djoliba opened the scoring through El Hadji Salim Bah in the 52nd minute only to allow Al-Nasr to equalise via Khalid Almaryami's penalty in the 68th to leave the group without a single team winning at the completion of match day one.
Against Horoya at the Dobsonville Stadium last Sunday, Hlatshwayo's team failed to take advantage of playing at home, often unable to produce a final pass to really test the outstanding Moussa Camara in the visitor's goal.
A win in Malabo will be a brilliant result for Gavin Hunt's team ahead of meeting Al-Nasr at home on December 29 and away on January 16.
Wits will play today's game relieved after the Premier Soccer League agreed to move their league game against Golden Arrows in Durban from Wednesday to Thursday.
Hunt, whose team has been firing blanks in their last four games in all competitions, told the Sunday Times last week that it was impossible to arrive back to SA on Monday from their daunting journey to Mali, hence the need for the PSL to give them an extra day to recuperate before their trip to Durban.
The Wits coach did admit that, with their impressive run in the last few years in Caf competitions, Horoya were always expected to be favourites in their group.
The Guinean giants were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Caf's Champions League in the last two editions.
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