Nyasa Big Bullets are in the Capital City to face Civil Sporting Club in the TNM Super League on Saturday.
The two sides clash 72 hours after The People’s Team on Wednesday moved top of the standings following a 3-0 defeat over Ntopwa, displacing Silver Strikers.
Head coach Kalisto Pasuwa had an audience with Club media on Friday afternoon after the team’s arrival in Lilongwe, where he spoke about the preparations, facing Civo away and being top of the standings. He also provided an injury update.
Below is the full transcript of Pasuwa’s interview ahead of the Saturday clash…
Another crucial fixture awaits, take us through the preparations and thoughts about the upcoming match against Civil Sporting Club on Saturday…
“[A] very important fixture as you know that we also want to keep the pressure on top. It’s very unfortunate that we have [had] limited time as you know we had a midweek fixture where we had only a day for training and traveling to Lilongwe, but again I think we have done enough to do well on Saturday.”
You ended their unbeaten run in the first-round at your backyard in Blantyre, this time around you have traveled to their base, what sort of opposition are you expecting from Civil this time around?
“It’s a good team with good players and they also play very good football and we respect them, but again we have been talking to our players to fight for the points. We are in the second-round of the season where everyone is fit now, so we need to engage an extra gear in order for us to to collect maximum points over Saturday’s opponents.”
For the first time this season you are topping the standings, will this put more pressure on your players to maintain their current position?
“I am one of the coaches who doesn’t look at the log position as of now, but maybe if it was the last game of the season we can say we are top. As we stand now, we need to do more in order for us to keep the current position and I don’t think the players are having any pressure for being top at the moment. They need to do what they are told during training sessions and that will be very key to keeping our position at the top.”
The last time Bullets won at Civo Stadium was in 2019 against the very same opposition, what will it take for the defending champions to repeat what they last season?
“The same way we have been training will be the same way we will approach the game. We won’t change much because of what happened in 2019. We have been training hard for us to keep up the momentum in the system of the team.”
Any recoveries from the list of injured players?
“We have recoveries and this afternoon some of them underwent a late fitness test. We will have a review on how they faired in order for us to include them in the team tomorrow. Apart from those ones, we have Meshack Seleman who picked up and injury midweek and Lanjesi Nkhoma who is down with an illness and has been receiving treatment back home.”
