Kalisto Pasuwa was impressed with how FCB Nyasa Big Bullets performed during our 1-0 defeat to UD Songo in the final match of the three-day 2023 Pre-Season International Bonanza at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The People’s Team came into this match straight from two back-to-back draws to Ferroviário de Nampula and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers and needed a win to leapfrog the Mozambican champions, who had four points.
Pasuwa’s charges dominated the majority of the game as they managed to keep possession and created chances but lacked a killer punch against Songo, who eventually scored after the half-hour mark and defended their goal with everything to frustrate the Malawian champions.
Providing his reaction to the defeat during the post-match interview, Pasuwa said if there was a game that he was at ease was against Sunday’s opposition.
“It was a very good game indeed where we were keeping possession away from our opponents and as I said, it’s pre-season and that’s one game where as a coach, I wasn’t having pressure and I was seated for almost thirty minutes when my boys were all over these guys, rotating the ball very well.
“But it was only one mistake and we were punished and that’s exactly what happened to us when we were playing the international games [in the CAF Champions League] where we got punished for two mistakes and the same thing happened again [today].
“In the second half, we tried to go forward but again it is the attacking thrust that we are lacking as you know we lost two of our best scorers or even one of our central midfielders, but again we still need to work on the attacking third from midfield to attack,” explained the Bullets head coach.
On Bullets’ failure to score a single goal in the three matches pre-season matches, Pasuwa said what his team was lacking were combinations.
“I think these are combinations. When building up, you start from the back and there is no way we can talk about strikers only, a midfielder can score as well. It’s a combination that we need to rectify when we go back to training. Our strikers will get there. We have Anthony Mfune and Maxwell Gasten [Phodo] who are scorers, so it’s not a thing to worry about, we will come out good,” he commented while assuring that goals will come.
The tactician further expressed his delight in having midfielder Mike Mkwate who was a marvel to watch throughout the minutes he played during the bonanza following his return from South Africa a week ago after parting ways with Polokwane City. Pasuwa admitted that following Chimwemwe Idana’s departure, Bullets needed a ball player.
“I think the replacement for Idana is Mike. Idana was a playmaker for us, so Mike [arriving], is a plus sign for us and on the scorers, we still need to find them. We had Kajoke and Babatunde who left so with these guys we are testing; we need one who can be scoring goals for us.”
The defeat on Sunday left Bullets in fourth position in the four-team bonanza with two points. Songo were crowned champions after accumulating 7 points while Wanderers, who recorded a 2-1 victory over Nampula in the early kick-off, finished second with four points.
Songo became the second team from Mozambique to win the pre-season tourney after Nampula, who finished third with two points after winning the competition in its inaugural year in 2019.
The other winners of the competition are Chicken Inn from Zimbabwe, who had no opportunity to defend the title this year following their absence from the tournament.
