Leaders Silver at home, Wanderers and Bullets on the road for TNM Super League 2024 Week 8

* The Bankers will once more be on familiar territory when they host 9th-placed Karonga United on Saturday

* 3rd-placed Mzuzu City Hammers host Mighty Wanderers (4th) at Mzuzu Stadium on Saturday

* As 2nd-placed defending champions Bullets date Moyale FC (7th) at the same Mzuzu Stadium on Sunday

By Duncan Mlanjira

Mzuzu Stadium will this weekend be centre of attraction as it will play host to two of Malawi football giants, Mighty Wanderers and Nyasa Big Bullets for Week 8 of the TNM Super League 2024 title race.

It starts with Saturday when 3rd-placed Mzuzu City Hammers with 13 points from 7 games, host Mighty Wanderers (4th-place with 12 points) before a visit by defending champions Nyasa Big Bullets (2nd place with 13 points) the next day to face Moyale FC on position 7 with 10 points.

At 19 points, log table leaders Silver Strikers, who beat Wanderers 2-0 at home last Sunday at Silver Stadium to consolidate a 6-point gap, will once more be on familiar territory when they host 9th-placed Karonga United (9 points).

Sharing on 12 points with Wanderers but separated by goal difference, 5th placed Kamuzu Barracks travel to Blantyre to face 6-placed Mighty Tigers (11 points) at Kamuzu Stadium.

Another interesting fixture on Saturday will be at Karonga Stadium when two debutantes lock horns — 16th-placed Baka City with 2 points against Creck Sporting (8th with 10 points from three wins and a draw).

Another debutantes, FOMO FC (12th with 7 points from two wins and a draw) travel to Dwangwa for Chitowe Stadium to face struggling giants MAFCO, who are 13th with six points from one win and three draws.

Playing earlier on Friday, will be at Karonga Stadium when Chitipa United, who are in the red relegation zone at 14th place with 5 points from one win and two draws, host 11th-placed Civil Service United who have 8 points.

Also with 8 points and placed on position 10 are Dedza Dynamos, who host relegation-threatened Bangwe All Stars, who have three points from three draws.

While the race for the title is still long way to go, as indicated by the leaders Silver Strikers’ coach, Peter Mponda after their emphatic 2-0 victory, focus of attention is still on Nyasa Big Bullets to see if they can retain their title they have won for the 6th consecutive seasons.

Together with Silver, they remain unbeaten so far, in which they have won three and drew four — dropping eight valuable points from two back-back-back 1-all draws against Mighty Wanderers and MAFCO away in Dwangwa and another 1-1 draw against Dedza Dynamos in the opening match — while Silver have won six and drew once.

In an interview with club media, , after recording their third victory against Mzuzu City Hammers on Saturday, Bullets’ coach Kalisto Pasuwa was quoted as downplaying that his team was under pressure, saying it was too early to start panicking because there is still a long way to go.

“…We have only played seven games…remember, this is a new team we are building and several of my players are still out, nursing injuries.

“We are trying different combinations using players we promoted from our reserves and new players we bought from other teams. As you can see, we are trying to bring in some combinations so that we come up with a strong team — it will come good.”

Silver’s coach Mponda also had same analysis, saying after their victory against the Nomads: “With six points clear at the top, we still feel that we have to work extra hard as we have just played seven games and we have a long way to go.

“The run continues and we are focused on the next match,” he is quoted as saying by Silver’s website, while emphasising that playing the game at home automatically meant that they needed to be on top of the game at all costs and win.

Sharing 12 points each, Wanderers (4th) and Kamuzu Barracks (5th) have only been beaten once and both winning and drawing three times to be separated by goal difference.

So there goes the race for the crown with 21 games more each to play and centre of attraction being on tactical approaches by coaches for Silver (Mponda); Big Bullets (Pasuwa); Wanderers (Nsanzwirimo Ramadhan); Mzuzu City Hammers (Elias Chirambo) and Kamuzu Barracks (Charles Kamanga).

Mponda has already shown he has instilled some winning mentality in his debut appearance as head coach for the Bankers while Pasuwa still holding dear the tactical acumen he is renowned for that earned him the TNM Super League 2023 Coach of the Year Award and the Malawi Sport Awards Non-Citizen of the Year accolade for winning the historic quadruple — the TNM Super League, FDH Bank Cup, Castel Challenge Cup and the Airtel Top 8.

Coach Ramadhan started the season on a bad note when he alluded that his side drew 1-1 to Kamuzu Barracks at Kamuzu Stadium in their opening match because their rivals Big Bullets had played the previous day, which he described as a problem.

But he claimed he was quoted out of context and he continues to sulk by delegating all pre- or post-match interviews to his deputy, Meke Mwase.

As for Kamuzu Barracks’ Charles Kamanga, he has put the Lilongwe-based side in a frame of being title contenders, rekindling their 2016 sojourn while his striker Zeliat Nkhoma is topping the race for the Golden Boot with five goals.

He is being chased from six players with four goals each — Silver Strikers duo of Adiel Kaduya & Binwell Katinji; Civil Service United’s Emmanuel Jnr Saviel; Creck Sporting’s George Chiomba, Isaac Msiska of Mzuzu City Hammers and Big Bullets Patrick Mwaungulu.

Mwaungulu’s fourth goal, coming from three consecutive goals, was a special one, scored on his 22nd birthday on Saturday and straight from a corner kick as Nyasa Big Bullets secured a 2-0 victory over Mzuzu City Hammers at Kamuzu Stadium.

He is the special one indeed, as he was voted TNM Super League 2023 Player of the Season as well as FDH Bank Cup 2023 Player of the Tournament and for this campaign, he was also the first to win the Player of the Month accolade.