Straight from the CAF Champions League outing on Sunday, there will be no resting for Kalisto Pasuwa’s charges as they return to domestic competitions, with action also awaiting Enos Chatama’s reserves and Autry Kalulu’s youth teams.
There will be no competitive game for our women’s team as they have contributed more players to the Malawi Women’s National Football Team.
Read on to find out what awaits The People’s Team this week.
First Team
Fresh from the 1-0 home defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo champions, TP Mazembe, in the CAF Champions League second preliminary round first leg at Bingu National Stadium on Sunday, Pasuwa’s side returns to Kamuzu Stadium for the TNM Super League match against Mighty Tigers on Thursday.
It is a must-win game for the champions, who currently sit second in the standings with 37 points from 18 games and victory over Kau Kau will see Bullets displacing Chitipa United from the top. The Northern Region side has 39 points from 21 matches.
The first-round tie between The People’s Team and Tigers ended 1-1 as the defending champions came from behind in the second half to earn a point.
After Thursday’s game, the Pasuwa’s men will not rest as they will switch their attention to the FDH Bank Cup semi-final clash against Dedza Dynamos at the same venue in the first-ever cup meeting between Bullets and the visitors.
The two sides have only faced each other in the TNM Super League since Dedza’s promotion into the top-flight league, with Bullets winning twice and drawing once in their three meetings.
It will be a mammoth task for The People’s Team to get a result against a very resilient side, which is coming from a historical 1-0 win away to Silver Strikers at the weekend.
Reserves
Our team B will be in action this afternoon at Kamuzu Stadium against Ntopwa FC in the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League.
The first-round tie ended 1-1 as Chatama’s boys scored in the late stages of the match through Wongani Kaponya to earn a hard-fought one point.
Bullets Reserves will be looking to bounce back from their first-ever loss at home following a 2-0 defeat against Tigers Reserves last week.
After this afternoon’s match, the reserves will travel to Mchinji for their quarter-final match against rivals Mighty Wanderers Reserves in the Aubrey Dimba Trophy at Aubrey Dimba Ground in Mchinji on Sunday.
Youth
Our youngsters hammered Jimmy Zakazaka Academy 4-1 in the first leg of their FCB Under-19 quarterfinal tie last Saturday through a Martin Adam brace and further strikes from Davie Symon and Kondwani Tebulo to take a massive lead ahead of the second leg on Saturday at Chilomoni Stadium.
A win will take our youngsters into the semis of the developmental cup, a competition which they are aiming to win for the first time.
Proceeding to the last four will see Kalulu’s side facing the winner between Griffin Youngsters and Wanderers Youth for a place in the final.
Women
Our ladies’ team had a rude awakening last weekend as they lost to Ntopwa FC 3-2 in a fiercely contested battle at Mpira Stadium.
The defeat saw them dropping into the second position with 10 points, having won three and drew one before the loss.
However, this week they will not have a chance to make amends for their first league loss as they will have no game due to the seven players Bullets Women have contributed to the 42-member Malawi provisional squad preparing for the Hollywoodbets COSAFA Women’s Championship scheduled for 4-15 October in South Africa.
We wish all our teams a successful outing in their respective competitions.
