All eyes will be at the Bingu National Stadium in the Capital this Saturday as FCB Nyasa Big Bullets will clash with Silver Strikers in the final of the 2024 Airtel Top 8.
Bullets, who won the competition last year after beating Mafco FC 2-1 at Kamuzu Stadium, will be looking forward to defending the cup, having already lost the FDH Bank Cup to Blue Eagles in September.
On the other hand, the Central Bankers will be fighting for their first piece of silverware since the 2020/21 season, having gone the past two seasons without winning anything.
Here is the guide to the much-anticipated tie between Kalisto Pasuwa and his former vice, Peter Mponda, who will be facing each other for a third time this year, Bullets winning the NBS Bank Charity Shield 7-6 on penalties following a scoreless draw in March, and the Bankers collecting all three points in the TNM Super League with a 1-0 win in June.
Team News
Bullets’ injury issues have eased for the first time since the 2023 season as Pasuwa has the majority of his players available for selection.
Alick Lungu, who got injured in October last year in the same competition, has already featured for The People’s Team in the 2-0 semi-final win over Kamuzu Barracks last week.
He played the whole 90 minutes to the excitement of Pasuwa, who described his comeback as timely.
Our head coach has also handed goalkeeper Clever Mkungula his first start since recovering from a long-term injury.
The shot-stopper kept a cleansheet in our 3-0 hammering of Mighty Tigers in the TNM Super League on Wednesday.
Mkungula last played for Bullets on 6th January during our Airtel Top 8 triumph over Mafco.
The tactician will also have all the players he rested during the Tigers game available for selection. In that successful win, he made nine changes to the squad as one way of managing his players ahead of this showdown.
As for the Central Bankers, they will miss the services of defender Nickson Mwase, who was red carded during their 1-0 semi-final win over Mighty Mukuru Wanderers last Saturday.
Peter Mponda will also be without Tatenda M’balala and Duncain Nyoni due to injuries, but the rest of the players are available for selection.
History in the competition
This will be Bullets’ fifth final appearance and fourth straight final appearance since the Airtel Top 8 was launched in 2017.
A win on Saturday would see us becoming the most successful team, having won it twice in the 2021 and 2023 seasons, respectively. On the other hand, a win for the Bankers would also make them the most successful team, having won it in its inaugural year in 2017 and 2019 seasons.
A win for Pasuwa’s men would also make us the first team to defend the trophy after we won it last season.
This is the fifth meeting between these two teams in this competition. Bullets lost 1-0 to Silver in the two-legged quarterfinals in the 2017 season.
The People’s Team avenged that defeat with a 5-4 shootout victory to lift the cup in the 2021 season.
In the 2022 campaign, Bullets hammered the Area 47 side 3-1 to knock them out of the competition at the semi-final stage.
Road to the final
Pasuwa’s men had to overcome a very resilient Civil Service United in a two-legged quarterfinals.
The first leg ended 2-0 in favour of the defending champions, who went on to frustrate the opponents in the return leg to progress to the last four.
In the semis, Bullets defeated Kamuzu Barracks 2-0 to set up this massive final showdown.
Peter Mponda’s men were 6-2 aggregate winners over Dedza Dynamos in the two quarterfinal matches. The first leg ended 4-1 before completing a double with a hard-fought 2-1 win to set up a semifinal showdown with Wanderers.
In the semis, a lone strike from Binwell Katinji was enough to send Mponda’s men to the final.
