FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa has expressed worry that his players don’t have enough time to recover due to fixture congestion.
Bullets have had a tight schedule, playing games within the shortest period and travelling long distances.
In 14 days, The People’s Team fulfilled five fixtures spread across the South, Central and Northern Regions, covering over 2000 km by road.
After defeating Hilltop United 1-0 in the Castel Challenge Cup in Mzuzu on Wednesday, four days after facing Kamuzu Barracks in the TNM Super League in Blantyre, Pasuwa’s men were in Dedza where we beat MMF Marines 3-1 on Saturday.
Following that victory at Dedza Stadium, Bullets will be back in Blantyre to host Mzuzu City Hammers in the semifinals of the Castel-sponsored trophy at Kamuzu Stadium on Tuesday, and if we sail through, Bingu National Stadium will be a place to be next Saturday for the last fixture of the 2024 season.
Our head coach shared his thoughts after the MMF Marines and expressed his concerns regarding the fixtures.
“That’s one thing which is mostly affecting us as a team. We have been travelling a lot and playing under conditions which are not okay. In this cup alone this is the second game to play with heavy rains and bad surfaces [that are] not suitable for a team to play football.
“This will come back to the health of the players. What are we saying? Because if you see the number of recoveries that we are having, we are playing games in a space of three days, and [the players] are not recovering, hence having so many injuries, but that’s it; we just have to play along and see how it goes,” he reacted.
Commenting on the tie against the lower division side, Pasuwa thought Bullets should have won the match convincingly, however, the bad pitch due to the rains forced his troops to start using secondary balls to manage the game.
Bullets were 2-0 up at halftime courtesy of Lloyd Aaron and Wongani Lungu’s strikes. The two sides had to wait 40 minutes before the second half resumed due to a waterlogged pitch. The hosts pulled one back before Alick Lungu restored one 2-goal advantage.
“We were in control of the match before the rains, and then the second half, after playing on a waterlogged pitch, we were forced to switch to one route football where we were hitting the ball forward and the other side was better than us [in that], hence they scored and we were mostly under pressure, then we scored another goal to win the match. I have to admire the boys for rising to the occasion with a well-planned display that suited the condition of the playing surface.”
On breaking Dedza Stadium’s winless run for almost a decade, the head coach said: “We will still keep on pushing for more. Sometimes, psychology also affects our minds, but if you go to a match with a positive mindset, you get the results regardless of where you are playing.”
Pasuwa also provided a brief update on Alick Lungu, who was stretchered off after injuring his ankle.
“He is out, and we will have to hear from the doctors to find out the extent of his injury. It’s a concern because we have been losing players every game, and that’s one area where, at the end of the season, I am asked why we are having so many injuries. That’s how they come. We play games in a space of three days. You have seen how we have lost him, so we will assess him on Monday,” he explained.
