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DURBAN. — AmaZulu coach Benni McCarthy comes face-to-face against Callisto Pasuwa in a CAF Champions League battle here today.
The Usuthu coach has challenged his team to enjoy the privilege of playing continental football as they seek to emulate the recent exploits of Bafana Bafana.
Usuthu plunge into the CAF Champions League today, with a date against Malawian giants Nyasa Big Bullets, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
“We just want the game to come now because we prepared well enough for what we are going to be up against.
“So, we are ready to go and hopefully we can also do South Africa proud like Bafana did,” said McCarthy.
The People’s Team — as Bullets — are the most successful club in Malawi and are coached by former Zimbabwe international, Pasuwa.
Four weeks ago, Bullets reached the final of the CECAFA Cup, which they lost to Express FC of Uganda, and arrive in Durban carrying the tag of having fed the PSL with numerous footballers.
They have in their ranks former Black Leopards and Santos midfielder Peter Mponda as an assistant while Swadick Sanudi (ex-Dynamos) is the ’keeper trainer.
They have previously been in the group stages of the Champions League after getting past Orlando Pirates but remain an unfamiliar opponent to Usuthu.
“It does make it difficult when you go into the unexpected you don’t know what you will be up against.
“You don’t know how tricky opposition they are, you don’t know how physical they are, how good, fast and strong they are so it is the unknown and we just have to rely on a few game clips that we got from television footage in Malawi.
“It is not enough for us to go but when you play at home you sass your opposition out and make sure that their strengths don’t end up punishing you.
“We looked a lot at what they are strong at doing and we have based our team on that and tried to work on that so that they don’t catch us off guard when it comes to what they are good at.
“They are not the quickest and they don’t deal a lot with tricky players.
“Hopefully, we can pull it off on Friday and give ourselves a fighting chance when we do go to Malawi.
“Home advantage counts massively because if you look at Kaizer Chiefs’ success last season (in Champions League) they were ruthless at home, and we want to draw inspiration from that.
“If we can do the same and win the home matches then you give yourself a fighting chance,” said McCarthy.
Nyasa Big Bullets’s four players, who were with the Flames in South Africa, joined the team on Wednesday, in Johannesburg, en-route to Durban.
The four are goalkeeper Ernest Kakhobwe, defenders Gomezgani Chirwa and Nixon Nyasulu and midfielder Chimwemwe Idana.
“We’ll just have to change the date of their return tickets,’’ said Bullets chief executive, Suzgo Nyirenda.
Pasuwa said they have taken advantage of the Fifa international dates to step up their preparations for the first leg.
“Of course, we would have loved to have a full squad, but four of our players (were) with the national team, so we have to concentrate on those that are available,” he said.
Bullets have registered eight more players for the Champions League campaign.
Initially, they registered 23 players, but according to FAM licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale, they made the eight additions, before the August 31 deadline.
The eight players are John Lanjesi, Alick Lungu, Henry Kabichi and Stanley Billiat, Precious Phiri, Ben Manyozo, Lanjesi Nkhoma and Anthony Mfune
“Most of the players already belonged to the club, but were not initially registered for the CAF tournament,” he said. — KickOff.com/Malawi Nation.
Online Reporter