Sundowns flew out to Japan last night and will be in action on Sunday when the face the winner of the match between Kashima Antlers of Japan and Auckland City of New Zealand.

Should the South African’s win this match, they will take on the Columbian outfit, Atletico Nacional, in the semi-finals next week Wednesday.

Atletico Nacional were scheduled to face the Brazilian team, Chapecoense, in the Copa Sudamericana final last week.

Nineteen Chapecoense players died in the fatal plane crash en route to the final in Medellin.

The Sundowns coach, Pitso Mosimane, says if they make the semi-finals there is no reason not to reach the final.

 “The most important for us is to give a good account of ourselves, represent the country well, represent the continent well and represent the club well,” said Mosimane.

“We’ll see how it goes, but it will be nice for us to go through to the semi-finals, and whilst we’re in the semi-finals we might as well as go through to the final.

“Let’s first get through to the semi-finals then we’ll take it from there.”

The other teams competing in the Club World Championships are Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea, the Spanish giants Real Madrid and the Mexican outfit, Club Americana.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport