By McLloyd Kudzingo
Nyasa Big Bullets have been knocked out of the TotalEnergies Caf Champions League League following their 3-1 loss (2-3 on aggregate) against South Africa’s Amazulu FC at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday.
The visitors opened the scoring within the opening 4 minutes through Bonginkosi Ntuli who converted from the sport after Sankhani Mkandawire used his hand to clear the ball from off the line . Ntuli came again 7 minutes later to double the Usuthu’s lead with a sublime back-heel finish before Sphelele Mthembu hit the last nail on Bullets’s coffin.
A win or a draw on Saturday would have taken the People’s team to the next level of the competition having won the first-leg 1-0 in South Africa through a Chiukepo Msowoya’s goal.
The home side made two substitutions in the first half, bringing in striker Chiukepo Msowoya for midfielder Chimango Kaira and MacFaren Ngwira for Misheck Selemani before substituting Hassan Kajoke for Precious Phiri.
On the other hand, Ben MacCarthy made two substitutions in the 65th minute bringing in Tsepo Masilela and Keagan Buchanan for Bonginkosi Ntuli and Luvuyo Memela respectively.
The People’s team pulled one back in the 48th minute through veteran midfielder Henry Kabichi who scored from the free-kick sport after a foul on Chiukepo Msowoya to give the home fans hopes of progressing to the next level.
However Amazulu held on to the 3-1 lead up to the final whistle denying Bullets players the much needed goals.
Speaking after the game Bullets coach Callisto Pasuwa accepted defeat and said his team will now focus on defending the super league title.
He said, ” It will take some time to wipe this game from our minds, but then we need to move on. We made mistakes in the early minutes of the game but that’s part of the game. We will just go back and continue our training so that we defend the super league title.”
With the win, Amazulu will now face TP Mazembe of DRC in the next round.
