Kalisto Pasuwa believes the Airtel Top 8 quarterfinal tie against Civil Service United is far from over despite FCB Nyasa Big Bullets’ two-goal advantage secured in the first leg.
The Bullets head coach said this as the two sides are set to meet at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday for the return match.
Two first-half strikes from Stanley Billiat and Chawanangwa Gumbo inspired The People’s Team to a comfortable 2-0 win at Kamuzu Stadium last month.
“We played the first half and are going for the second half. So, it’s a game that we can say we are leading 2-0. Football can surprise you. Football can change in a minute, so we must be cautious about our approach. We will play our offensive game; we will play balance and be quite aware of our first-leg lead and maintain it,” Pasuwa told journalists in his pre-match press conference in Blantyre on Thursday.
Bullets are winless in the last two outings at Civo Stadium after recording a 1-1 draw with Creck Sporting Club and a goalless stalemate against Kamuzu Barracks in the opening round of this TNM Super League campaign.
Pasuwa has reiterated the desire to play to break the jinx.
“Football is all about the mind. If you go at Civo with a 2-0 margin in our heads and we sit back to defend, we won’t score, and we will end up coming back with a negative result. We are saying we played the first half, and this is the second half, hence the need to attack and play our normal game,” he stated.
But the 2023 quadruple-winning coach did not hide his anticipation of a tough challenge from Abbas Makawa’s men. He believes they will do everything to overturn the deficit.
“They have been giving us torrid time in all the games we have been facing them, and we are quite aware of this and the job we will do there. Civil is not a team to underrate because we carry a 2-0 lead. We don’t need to go there and relax. We must work extra hard to proceed to the next stage,” commented Pasuwa.
Our head coach was again asked if he would feature more players who recently returned from long-term injuries on Saturday.
He commented: “Remember, we only have eleven players who are allowed to play and yes, most of them were on a long-term rehab, and you could see that we are giving them minutes since some of them last played for the team a year and a half ago. We need to manage them to gain full fitness, and I think half of the players are around alongside these players who have recovered.”
