FCB Nyasa Big Bullets are in the capital city for the FDH Bank Cup quarter-final match against Extreme FC at Civo Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
This will be the first time for the holders to face a fellow TNM Super League side in this competition this campaign, having played two non-league teams in the name of Ndirande Stars and Balaka FC in the round-of-32 and last-16, respectively.
It will likely be a tricky fixture against a side that made tremendous progress in the second edition of this competition when they reached the semis only to be knocked out by Bullets Reserves last season.
Form Guide
Bullets have had a smooth run in the early stages of the tournament as they advanced from the last-32 with a comfortable 4-0 win over a championship outfit, Ndirande Stars, before eliminating Balaka with a 3-0 win to reach the quarter-final stage.
The People’s Team head into Saturday’s match on a high, having finished the first round of the Super League on top, and have displayed excellent form overall, with others suggesting the team is now taking shape after struggling to play their usual passing games recently.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men are also the highest-scoring team in the competition with seven goals from which they have registered two clean sheets.
This excellent run includes two consecutive league victories over Blue Eagles and Karonga United, with eleven goals scored in matches against Balaka FC, Eagles, Dedza Dynamos, Karonga United and recently, Tigers FC and just three goals conceded.
They will, however, be wary of the threat posed by the Mchinji-based side, following their remarkable giant-killing feats in the league in which they defeated Mighty Mukuru Wanderers 1-0 and gave Silver Strikers a torrid time in their 2-1 defeat when the two teams faced off last month.
Last week, Extreme defeated Red Lions 2-1 at the same venue to record their second league win in the ongoing season.
To reach this far, they defeated St Gabriel Zitha 5-4 on penalties in the round-of-32 following a goalless draw in normal time, before recording another hard-fought 1-0 victory over Mbabzi United in the last-16.
Head-to-Head
This will be the first cup meeting between the two teams and a second meeting since the rookies earned promotion into the elite league at the end of the 2022 season. Bullets won the first encounter 1-0.
Team News
Pasuwa will still be without Mike Mkwate, Stanley Billiat, Ernest Petro and Alick Lungu, who are on the sidelines with injuries.
What Pasuwa said ahead of the match
“It’s a knockout competition, a different approach where one is knocked out in 90 minutes. We have been trying to psych ourselves in terms of our attacking prowess and also defensively. You score, you defend that goal and these are cup games, no beautiful football, what we need is to score goals for us to win the game and we have worked on it so that we get the result.
“They [Extreme] will put everything on us like they did last time we faced them. They are a good team, and we struggled to get the winning goal, but we eventually won the game. We expect them to come hard on us, but we are geared up for them.
“As usual, every player should be ready to play. Remember, some of the guys are coming from injuries, and their fitness levels are still down, so we need to give them a few minutes to avoid losing before we even finish the season.”
How to follow the game
The match will be live on Mpira TV and online it will be streamed on FIFA+. You can also catch the updates on our Facebook and Twitter channels.
Match officials
Mercy Kayira will be in charge of our FDH Bank Cup quarter-final tie against Extreme FC at the Civo Stadium as we will be battling for a semi-final place where the winner on Saturday afternoon will face the winner between Dedza Dynamos and Moyale Barracks.
Referee: Mercy Kayira
Assistant Referee 1: Piason Kamanga
Assistant Referee 2: Mabvuto Godoya
Fourth Official: Deus Nyirongo
Match Assessor: Patrick Ngoleka
