Date with destiny
F
CB Nyasa Bullets will this afternoon have a test of character as they launch their 2024 CAF Champions League campaign against Red Arrows of Zambia at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Having made it past the first preliminary round in the last edition for the first time in five years, Bullets hope to repeat the feat.
But they find themselves in a precarious situation, having endured a tumultuous start to the 2024 season.
The TNM Super League champions are struggling in the local league as they sit on position five with 24 points, having won just five out of 16 matches.
However, Bullets coach Kallisto Pasuwa in a pre-match interview sounded confident of putting behind their domestic woes.
He said: “We’ve been having problems, we can’t run away from that. I think mentally, we are ready for it. We need to rise up to the occasion when we play this game.”
Pasuwa said winning the first leg at home is crucial so that they go into the away second leg a week later without pressure.
He said: “We need to be very offensive. But again, these games need patience. The moment you open up, you can be punished on counter attacks.
“So, you need also to be very, careful. You see, the problem is complacency, mentally, to say we are playing at home. The moment you do that, you can end up conceding.
“Like I’ve been preaching to say, these international matches, a slight mistake that you do and you are punished. We need to be serious with whatever we do in our approach.”
Last year, Bullets defeated Equatorial Guinea’s FC Dragon 3-0 on aggregate in the preliminary round, but were knocked out by TP Mazembe of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the second round after losing 5-0 on aggregate.
Pasuwa said they lost the second leg against Mazembe due to silly mistakes which made Bullets concede three goals within 20 minutes.
Said the Zimbabwean tactician: “A good example is the game that we played Mazembe in DRC. We lost the game in 20 minutes. So, we need to be very careful the way we want to attack also, but we need also to ensure that we don’t concede.”
Pasuwa said they are well aware of what to expect from the Zambia’s MTN Super League Champions, who recently won the Cecafa Kagame Cup and Carling Black Label Charity shield.
“A good team also, good in position of the ball, and they’re a very experienced side. But again, football being football, we need to meet them,” he said.
On his part, Red Arrows assistant coach Kalililo Kakonje said they are in the country on a mission to win at all cost, but will not to be carried away by Bullets’ 2024 season struggles.
He said: “I think it’s, it’s very important also in football not to rely on past form. So, we’re not going to base the game either on our form or Bullets’.
“We’re going to approach the game as it comes. The way we’re approaching it is we are playing a very good side that has got a rich history, and, that is the respect we’re giving the game.”
Bullets have participated in the last five editions of the Champions League.
In the 2018-19 season, they were booted out by Kenya’s Gor Mahia.
In 2019-20, Bullets were shown the exit by Zimbabwe’s Platinum FC.
In 2020-21, it was AmaZulu of South Africa who humiliated Bullets while in 2022, Bullets lost to Tanzania giants Simba FC.
