Silver, Bullets miss CAF offer
Nyasa Big Bullets and Silver Strikers cannot beef up their squads for CAF club tournaments despite the Africa football governing body reopening the registration for players for Champions League and Confederation Cup, respectively.
The registration closed on October 20, but Confederation of African Football (CAF) has decided to reopen the process up to November 8 after some southern African countries complained of the short duration following a change in club competitions calendar.
But Football Association of Malawi (FAM) licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale said Bullets and Silver cannot register new players “because Silver registered 25 players while Bullets registered 26. They both can register up to 30 players. But the thing is that our transfer window is already closed. If they want to register more players, they will only be from their own pool and not newly-signed ones”.
He further said Silver and Bullets can only register either the rejects that never made the final squad or from their reserve sides or those on loan.
The development does not help much newly-appointed Bullets coach Callisto Pasuwa, who on Saturday said he would have loved to beef up the squad.
The Zimbabwean tactician observed that fatigue had taken a toll on his players, saying he would have loved to add more fire-power.
“There is a lot we need to do. We need to be compact when going forward and when defending. I wish I had joined Bullets before they registered players for CAF Champions League. We need to beef up the squad to compete at that high level,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bullets, who are reportedly paired against Namibia champions African Stars in Champions League preliminary round, are expected to play Zanzibar national champions JKU FC and Tanzania giants Simba FC in preparation for the competition.
Bullets chief executive officer Fleetwood Haiya said the team will fly to Tanzania on November 14.
However, the People’s Team will likely be without some key players such as John Lanjesi, Patrick Phiri, Chiukepo Msowoya, Yamikani Fodya and Rabson Chiyenda, who are with the national team in preparation for 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Comoros on November 17.
Silver general secretary Lawrence Yobe, on the other hand, said they will wait for the Confederation Cup draw before organising international friendlies.
Though CAF held the draw for both Confederations Cup and Champions League on Saturday, the outcome has been withheld.
Meanwhile, Silver coach Lovemore Fazili said the Bankers have no intention of beefing up their squad.
He said: “The players that we have now have played together for a long time. I trust in their capabilities. We have good players such as Thuso Paipi, Duncan Nyoni, Mark Fodya, Brighton Munthali, Levison Maganizo Mike Tetteh, just to mention a few.
“Some of these play in the national team. I do not see any local player that can add value to the team. Bringing more players may also end up disturbing the team’s cohesion,” he said.
