Nyasa Big Bullets arrived in the capital Lilongwe on Wednesday ahead of the CAF Champions League tie against South Africa’s Amazulu FC
On Wednesday the team had its first training session at Lilongwe Golf Club at exactly 16:00 hours.
The People’s Team will host Amazulu in the first preliminary round second leg at the Bingu National Stadium on Saturday behind closed doors.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s side will head into Saturday’s clash with a 1-0 advantage having won the first leg in South Africa last Friday.
Pasuwa traveled with a strong squad of 27 players for the return match, including club lead scorer in the current campaign, Hassan Kajoke, who missed the first encounter due to an injury.
The Bullets head coach told club media that it was important for his side to be in Lilongwe early for the upcoming match to adapt to the environment.
“[It’s] very important for the team to arrive early for Saturday’s match. Remember, we are also dealing with weather which is totally different from [Blantyre] where we are based, hence we needed the boys to adapt to this weather pattern. You saw how hot it was around 14:00 hours and we arrived here at that time to try to suit to the environment,” he said.
On how his team is looking days after playing Amazulu away last week, with the lone goal scorer, Chiukepo Msowoya, and his striking partner Babatunde Adepoju, picking knocks that resulted the two being substituted, Pasuwa said:
“So far so good, we are having minor knocks on two to three players who are working with the medical and fitness teams and we expect them to undergo a late fitness test on Friday, hopefully they will be available for selection on Saturday,” explained the Bullets mentor, adding “that’s the reason why we traveled with more players in order to have a backup in case some of the injured players fail to recover.”
Bullets will be without Yamikani Fodya, who picked a red card in the first leg played at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
A win over Ben McCarthy’s side in the return game will see Bullets proceeding to the second preliminary round where they will face Democratic Republic of Congo’s TP Mazembe in search for a place in the group stages.
