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Caught on the hop. The country’s football powerhouses Bakili Bullets and MTL Wanderers were taken by surprise on Wednesday when the Super League season opening fixtures paired them together.
The two sworn rivals are scheduled to meet this Saturday at the giant Kamuzu Stadium. In Lilongwe there will also be another clash of giants on the same afternoon with Civo lining up against capital rivals Silver Strikers at Civo Stadium.
This will be the first time in many years for the giants to open the dance floor but Sulom’s vocal boss Henry Chibowa described the fixture as normal.
“All the teams are equal. The fixtures are not by accident, they were planned, even in England, there are times when Manchester United have been paired against Arsenal in an opening fixture.
“Usually when these so called rivals meet at the climax of the league, it brings a lot of tension,” said Chibowa.
Apparently both Bullets and Wanderers said they are not losing their sleep with the prospect of meeting at the very beginning of the season but blamed Sulom for communicating the fixture late.
Nomads’ chair Sydney Chikoti said: “Of course we were expecting that the league would start any time and starting against Bullets is not a big issue.
“But the manner of communication by Sulom is not the best. The fixtures should have been sent say five days before kick off, especially when there is such a big game on the cards because we take an extra mile in preparations,” said Chikoti sounding very cool.
He also said the nomads are not moved with the departure of some key players like goalkeeper Phillip Nyasulu, defender Allan Kamanga and midfielder Lawrence Majawa to a Zimbabwe team.
“We cannot sit and mourn because two or three players will not be there. Afterall, our friends have also been affected by the so called player exodus and therefore we will be on equal footing,” said a confident Chikoti.
Bullets’ newly elected general secretary Willie Phalula said his team is equally not unnerved.
“In fact when we heard about it, we welcomed the idea because a game between Bullets and Wanderers is always a tense match especially when it is played at the climax of the league.
“So we feel Sulom has done a wise thing by staging this clash at the very beginning because tension will die down,” said Phalula.
However, just like Wanderers, Phalula said his team’s main worry was the time factor in communicating about the fixtures.
“At least it should have helped us in our preparations to know which team we are playing early in the week. Our other concern is the issue of registration and affiliation since our coffers are dry at the moment. But then there is nothing we can do about it,” said Phalula.
Reacting to the fixture in which his club has been paired with rivals Silver, Civo’s coach Young Chimodzi admitted having been taken unawares.
“Of course we knew that we would start this week but we did not think of playing Silver in our first game. But in terms of preparations, we are ready,” said Chimodzi, who also expressed his concern on the issue of registration saying his team has just received the forms.
On the other hand, Silver’s general secretary Ganizani Masiye said his team has no problems taking on Civo in their first league assignment.
“Our only problem is we will not be able to complete all registration formalities by this weekend because we are still waiting for clearances of a number of our new players from their previous clubs,” said Masiye.
He cited goalkeeper Bright Nyirongo from Civo, Kuruwa Ngwira and Dave Moya from Blue Eagles, Gift Makoloni and Peter Wadabwa from Wanderers.
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