FCB Nyasa Big Bullets return to Kamuzu Stadium for another important task in the TNM Super League when we welcome Mafco FC this afternoon.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men arrived in Blantyre on Thursday morning from the Northern Region, where we collected four points after beating Baka City 1-0 and drawing 0-0 against Mzuzu City Hammers.
A win over Mafco will not push the defending champions beyond position three, but it will open a three-point lead over Civil Service United in the battle for position three. The two teams have 34 points each, with the Servants playing a game more than us.
Stereo Gondwe’s side has been a demanding customer for Bullets in recent years, regardless of where we meet the Salima-based military side.
Bullets must do more to collect points and keep their slim title hopes alive.
FORM GUIDE
We have won three of our last four games in the TNM Super League, beating Chitipa United, Creck Sporting Club, and Baka City before sharing the points with Mzuzu City Hammers.
The recent remarkable run is Pasuwa’s men’s first in the current season. After a tough start to our title defence, the Bullets slipped further down in the pecking order after registering many draws than wins.
This good run of form has given us hope that we can keep fighting until the season’s final match in our quest to defend the league for a sixth successive season.
As Pasuwa’s sentiments suggest, the wins have given the players much-needed confidence going into the critical period of the 2024 season, when games are coming through thick and thin.
In the last four games, the defending champions have scored eight goals, conceded four, and kept two clean sheets.
Our opponents come from a 2-0 win over Waka Waka Mighty Tigers. But before collecting those three points, they lost 3-1 to Karonga United and played to a goalless draw away to Civil Service United.
MAFCO are ninth in the table with 30 points, four behind The People’s Team.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Since 2010, the two teams have met 25 times, with Bullets registering 11 wins and sharing the spoils in 12 meetings. Mafco has recorded two wins over The People’s Team in the past 14 years.
We didn’t meet in 2019 when Mafco was relegated to the Chipiku Central Region Football League.
Bullets did a double over the soldiers in the 2010 season when we handed them a 4-3Â defeat at Kamuzu Stadium before a 0-1 win away at Chitowe in the reverse fixture.
In 2011, the two teams played a goalless draw in the first round before sharing a point apiece with a 1-1 stalemate in Dwangwa.
The following season saw Bullets collecting four out of the possible six, winning 2-0 away at Chitowe before sharing the points with a 2-2 draw in the final fixture at Kamuzu Stadium.
Mafco got the better of Bullets in 2013 when they won 2-0 at Chitowe and played to a goalless draw at Kamuzu Stadium in the reverse fixture.
2014 saw the two sides sharing points with 1-1 draws in the two fixtures.
However, we collected six points in 2015, when we registered 1-0 victories in both the opening and final rounds of that season.
Bullets beat Mafco 2-0 in the first-round match of the 2016 season and forced them to a 2-2 draw at Chitowe.
The People’s Team then won 2-1 in the first round of the 2017 campaign at Chitowe but failed to beat the soldiers at Kamuzu Stadium, ending the match 0-0.
The following term, Bullets claimed a double again, hammering the visitors 3-1 at Kamuzu Stadium and 1-0 away at Chitowe in a season in which the soldiers were relegated from the top-flight league.
We met again in the 2020/21 campaign when the Salima-based side returned to the TNM Super League, and the two matches ended 0-0 and 1-1.
In the 2022 season, Bullets won the first-round fixture by a 1-0 margin at Kamuzu Stadium before losing the reverse fixture by a similar scoreline at Dedza Stadium, ending our unbeaten streak in domestic competitions that campaign.
Last season, Pasuwa’s men hammered Mafco 4-0 at Kamuzu Stadium before playing to a goalless draw at Chitowe Stadium.
The two teams played a 1-1 draw at Chitowe Stadium in the opening half of the current campaign. Our opponents scored early in the first half before Patrick Mwaungulu’s equaliser in the dying minute earned us a point.
TEAM NEWS
Our squad has no fresh injuries going into Sunday’s fixture. Only those players recovering from long-term injuries are unavailable for selection.
KICK-OFF TIME AND HOW TO WATCH THE MATCH
The game is scheduled for 15h00, and you can catch all the action live on Mpira TV and MBC TV. It will also be streamed on FIFA+. You can also catch all the match updates on our Facebook and X (Twitter) channels.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Shaibu Cassim
Assistant Referee 1: Sibusiso Sibande
Assistant Referee 2: Fanuel Miles
Fourth Official: Honest Maulana
Match Assessor: Hastings Ntutha