FCB Nyasa Big Bullets head coach Kalisto Pasuwa addressed the media ahead of our last but one game in the TNM Super League against Karonga United at Kamuzu Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Pasuwa congratulated Silver Strikers for winning the league. He also spoke about the need to keep the winning momentum, team news, his expectations from Karonga United, why we didn’t do well to miss out on the title defence and Hassan Kajoke’s return.
Below is the full transcript of Pasuwa’s media briefing.
On the need to keep on winning despite losing the title to Silver Strikers…
Firstly, let me congratulate Silver Strikers for winning the 2024 TNM Super League. Now, coming to your question, as I said before, we will play games until the last day, and it’s not a case of saying maybe the league is over and we want to take the games to just fulfil them. Remember, there are a lot of people that are involved here, and also, considering our supporters, they pay a lot of money to watch entertaining football; hence, that’s the reason why in every game that we play, we try our level best to come up with good results.
On injuries and suspensions…
I think on the last squad that played [against FOMO in Mulanje], we have Chrispin Mapemba, Anthony Mfune and Clyde Senaji, who are still out of action due to injuries, but the rest of the squad is training for us.
On Hassan Kajoke’s return…
Yes, Hassan Kajoke is back with us training. But his fitness levels are down. He is starting off the season hence the need to be very patient with him and I think, if I am not mistaken, this year he might not kick the ball the way that I have seen him. But maybe if we proceed in the Castel Challenge Cup, he might feature, but again, he still needs to do a lot in terms of his fitness. [On his attitude], so far, so good. There is nothing wrong with him; he is very positive, and he is training like all the other guys.
On facing a side that beat us 2-1 away and fighting for a Top 8 finish…
It’s a mindset in us to say we are playing Karonga United, and considering the fact that the league is over, some can go into this match saying we are just fulfilling the fixture. But they have been giving us problems. These are the teams that, when they come into Kamuzu Stadium, raise their game. Remember, we are playing on artificial turf where the surface is okay and every team that comes, enjoys football, so it’s us also on the mental aspect of it and secondly, tactical awareness and also because we need to keep shape to be good, and lastly, maybe, in terms of our technique in front of goal. Remember, for a game to be won, you need to be hitting at goal and scoring.
On the last 28 league games played so far…
In the last games that we have been playing, I wouldn’t complain much, but again, some of the games were disturbed by the weather, where we struggled a lot. We still need to do more in terms of adapting, especially when we are playing on bumpy pitches and waterlogged pitches; we still need to train on that because these are the grounds that we have in Malawi, so we need to get used to it.
