Kalisto Pasuwa says FCB Nyasa Big Bullets must get back up from Sunday’s FDH Bank Cup final defeat and focus on the remaining domestic competitions.
Bullets’ dreams of winning the cup for a third season in a row were crushed after losing 3-2 on penalties to Blue Eagles at the Bingu National Stadium.
The defeat came a week after The People’s Team exited the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League after losing to Zambian Red Arrows.
Providing his reaction, Pasuwa, who won every domestic trophy last season said Bullets must soldier on.
“We can’t give up now. We soldier on. We have lost this one, but that doesn’t mean the end of the world. We still have other competitions to play for and we will focus on the next assignments,” he told journalists during his post-match press conference.
Pasuwa believes that The People’s Team lost the FDH Bank Cup title to The Eagles because his men failed to utilize first-half chances.
Bullets were aggressive in the opening half where they took the game to the hosts, but, despite their dominance, couldn’t find the back of the net.
“Like I said in my pre-match interview yesterday, I predicted a very tough afternoon for my boys. This is a cup game and a power-setting game with high intensity and had we used our first-half chances, we could be talking about something different [now].
“You cannot allow this game to go to penalties because penalties can go either side because they are anyone’s game and unfortunately, we were on the other end. Congratulations to Blue Eagles for the win. They did well and they are now the champions.”
Sharing his thoughts on what made Bullets lose the game, our head coach explained: “Our attacking prowess wasn’t enough as we did so little to attack and to create chances. We dropped off and allowed them to dominate us and took the game to penalties where we lost.”
Sunday’s result was Pasuwa’s second cup final defeat after he took over from Rodgers Yasini and Eliah Kananji at Bullets towards the end of the 2018 season.
He won five cups between the 2021 and 2023 seasons but only lost 5-4 on penalties to Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in the 2022 Airtel Top 8 Cup.
After coming out of the CAF Champions League and losing the FDH Bank Cup, Bullets remain with the TNM Super League, the Airtel Top 8 and the Castel Challenge Cup to compete for.
With the international break coming up, Pasuwa will be looking to bounce back as the Airtel Top 8 first-leg tie against Civil Service United awaits on 14 September at the Kamuzu Stadium.
