Kalisto Pasuwa says facing Hilltop United on Wednesday away in Mzuzu will be a tricky outing for FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
Bullets travel to the North to take on the non-league side in the Castel Challenge Cup Round of 16 at Mzuzu Stadium.
This will be the third time for Pasuwa’s troops to meet a non-league side in this competition after playing Lipulumundu Stars and Soche Socials last season, and Kumanda All Stars in the 2024 edition.
“Very tricky for us to play an unknown side [and] considering that we are travelling. You see, travelling more than 400 kilometres has never been easy and we are one of the teams that have been travelling in most of our games, but again, we can’t do anything.
“These are tricky teams because we are going without any picture, we are just going as Bullets. So, those are the teams that we need to be very careful when playing against and we need our players to psyche up each and every one in the house to say games are won after playing.
“We mustn’t undermine them to say they are minors and that we will have an easy ride. We have to fight in order for us to go to the next round,” the head coach told club media ahead of the midweek fixture.
Pasuwa also tackled the attitude of his players when The People’s Team faced Karonga United and Kamuzu Barracks.
“This is a big club and everyone should lead by example. No [Bullets] player should compare himself to the so-called smaller teams. This is Bullets which is supposed to be setting up the pace in every competition and this can only happen if we maintain our level of professionalism.
“You saw how they missed chances against Karonga United and Kamuzu Barracks and some of them can easily get tired. You can’t even understand what is happening with these boys, but it is what it is, we just need to find a solution to this,” he explained.
After winning everything last year, Pasuwa’s men lost the FDH Bank Cup and the TNM Super League this season. Having won the Airtel Top 8, now we remain with the Castel Challenge Cup to defend.
In the just-ended league campaign, won by Silver Strikers and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers coming second, we were the lowest-scoring team amongst the top three teams with 42 goals, compared to the 2023 season in which we scored 49 goals.
“It’s just a matter of going back to the drawing board. Last time, we had more strikers, but now, if you see the way we are playing, we only have two strikers and that time we had a rotation of many strikers, but unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury anymore. It happens, but we need to sit down and see where are making mistakes,” he shared his thoughts.
A win in Mzuzu will see Bullets facing MMF Marine at Dedza Stadium in the quarterfinals of the remaining competition and hope to sail through the next rounds to reach the final as we seek to add a second trophy to our cabinet before concluding the 2024 season.
