The People’s Team will welcome Civil Service United in the quarterfinals of the FDH Bank Cup at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
This fixture comes two weeks after we played out to a 1-all draw in the TNM Super League at the same venue where Bullets came from behind to salvage a point.
We are facing a side that we have only managed to beat once in four cup games, and they have two victories over us in our backyard in the last nine years.
Abbas Makawa’s men are one of the two teams to have recorded cup wins over Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium. They knocked us out of the Standard Bank Cup in the semi-finals in 2015 and a 2-1 victory in the second leg of the Airtel Top 8 last season; we proceeded to the semis 3-2 on aggregate.
FORM GUIDE
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men are coming from a convincing 2-0 TNM Super League triumph over Bangwe All Stars at Mpira Stadium on Wednesday.
Both of the goals were scored in the first ten minutes of the second half through Babatunde Adepoju, who has found his goal-scoring boots, and Chawanangwa Gumbo who came on as a substitute following a first-half injury to Ernest Petro.
Before the midweek victory, the defending champions of every domestic competition in Malawi had a successful 2-1 win over cross-town rivals, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, to advance to this stage of the FDH Bank Cup where Civil awaits.
As for the opponents, they are coming from a 2-2 draw away to Mafco FC in the league. For them to reach this stage, they eliminated Mighty Tigers, winning 4-2 on penalties.
But before facing Tigers, they hammered Chihame Stars 5-1 in the Round of 32 of this prestigious cup competition.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
We are unbeaten in the league against Civil for the last 13 seasons, but we have had two defeats at the hands of our opponents in cup competitions.
In the last 10 years, the Lilongwe-based side has become a familiar opponent in knockout competitions as we have met them four times.
Our first meeting was in 2015 in the Standard Bank Cup semis at Kamuzu Stadium. James Chilapondwa, now Bullets team manager, had given the hosts a first-half lead but in the second half, Raphael Phiri, now with Moyale Barracks, scored two quick goals to inspire the visitors to a memorable victory over The People’s Team.
In 2023, we met three times. The first meeting was the first quarterfinal leg of the Airtel Top 8 at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.
A strike each from Maxwell Phodo and Hassan Kajoke inspired Bullets to a comfortable 2-0 win over their opponents. However, the battle was far from over as Civil staged a stunning comeback in the second leg, beating Pasuwa’s men 2-1. We progressed to the semis with a 3-2 aggregate win over Makawa’s men.
The two teams met again in the Castel Challenge Cup Round of 16. The match came days after Pasuwa’s charges had retained the TNM Super League championship, winning it for the fifth consecutive time.
Bullets showed no mercy as they hammered Civil 3-0 to advance to the last eight of the cup in its inaugural season.
A season later, we are meeting again in a knockout competition. This will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams in the FDH Bank Cup.
WHAT PASUWA SAID AHEAD OF THE MATCH
“We need to have the right sense of mentality to make us win. The moment you underrate any team, it becomes an issue. Remember what we have been having in our camp, the confidence wasn’t there but maybe you can see now that it is coming back where you can see we are keeping possession, where you can see a player trying to do what he is best known for and I think with the confidence that we are having right now, it can take us through, but it needs one to have a positive mind of not saying we are playing Civil and then you use the past result or even to say last time they beat us or we won. Football is changing every day, it’s evolving. We need to be right in our approach.
“It’s a new game that is coming and like I said, we need to be very positive in our approach. It’s a new game and for one to win, you should have the ambition of saying I want to win. Don’t go there saying we are Bullets, we are playing at home. We might leave the cup going. We need to do everything positive because these are cup games where you need one result so I think we have prepared well, the players are eager to go and we hope for the best.
“I think now there is stability in terms of the approach. It’s communication that is needed when one is playing, from the goalkeeper to the last man in defence and when we are talking about defending, it’s not about the defenders only, it’s about everyone. We defend as a team. So, if we can have the right sense of mind, maybe we can have a lot of clean sheets as we go into these matches.”
TEAM NEWS
Ernest Petro is not available for this match after returning to the injury list after he was stretchered off in the first half of the midweek tie against Bangwe.
Frank Willard, who was also taken off towards the end of the Wednesday match after he signalled to be substituted, is available for the FDH Bank Cup quarterfinal tie against Civil as his knock was not serious.
For the first time this season, Bullets will have almost the full squad available for selection, apart from the usual Alick Lungu, Clever Mkungula and Mike Mkwate, who are still recovering from their long-term injuries.
Defender Clyde Senaji and midfielder Ronald Chitiyo, who have been on the sidelines for several weeks, have recovered and are fit to be considered for game time.
KICK-OFF TIME AND HOW TO WATCH THE MATCH
The game is scheduled for 14h30 and you can catch all the action live on Mpira TV and MBC TV. It will also be available for streaming on FIFA+. You can also catch all the match updates on our Facebook and X (Twitter) channels.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Mzuzu-based female referee, Mercy Kayira, who was the fourth official as we suffered a 2-1 defeat to Karonga United two weeks ago, will take charge of our clash against Civil at Kamuzu Stadium.
Referee: Mercy Kayira
Assistant Referee 1: Lameck Phiri
Assistant Referee 2: Chifundo Godoya
Fourth Official: Cedrick Mwachumu
Match Assessor: Moffat Champiti
