Can Mponda be Silver’s missing piece of the puzzle?

10 years ago, 8 years ago, Silver Strikers won their last league championship and won their last away game against FCB Nyasa Big Bullets respectively. Finally, the Central Bankers feel now that they have their club back after a statement starting to the season.

Time and time again, Silver Strikers would be bottling the league late, they are in a good direction this season, 8 points ahead of their inter-city rivals heading into this weekend’s blockbuster fixture. The Reserve Bank-sponsored side has undergone some restructuring from top positions, with Patrick Chimimba taking over the operation of the team, they seem to be on the same page.

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Chimimba and his co opted for Peter Mponda after his legacy of Malawi’s football as a player and he knows his profile as they worked together at the defunct SureStream Academy a decade ago. There has been resistance from Supporters’ preferences as they deemed Mponda as Bullets’ die-hard and could betray Silver Strikers but Silver were unshaken and still they instilled power in Mponda to lead the technical panel and surely, he will be eager to shock his former team and prove Patrick Chimimba ‘s valor by repudiating supporters’ preference.

A win for the Bankers will see them opening an 11-point gap over the previous five years Super League winners.

Is Mponda the answer to Silver’s problems?

The Bankers hired Zambia’s Dan Kabwe to guide them to the league championship but he couldn’t, and he was fired later after helping them win the FDH Bank Cup, he beat Bullets on penalties along the way after a 2-all stalemate.

Karonga United had Zimbabwean gaffer, Lazarus Magaya but he couldn’t stamp his authority at the Club, Pieter De Jongh failed to challenge Pasuwa, and so too with Mark Harrison for Mighty Mukuru Wanderers who resigned from his post soon after losing to Bullets in the Castel Challenge Cup.

It is a team from another time, a glimpse of Silver’s post-Pieter De Jongh identity crisis and Mponda’s decidedly imperfect inheritance. China Chirwa and George Chaomba were some of the players that the former Black Leopards defender axed from the squad that he found at the Club, although he is said to be not a fan of some of the players that were signed before his arrival.

The Bankers are yet to lose under the tutelage of Mponda after playing Friendly matches during the Pre-season preparations, beating Mafco FC, Bangwe All Stars, and Ekhaya FC, among others. They assume a greater pertinence now, and not merely as signs of the transformation of a side in five months.

“We wanted a serial winner and a coach who understands our football,” Silver Strikers clarified their choice to appoint former Bullets Captain and Assistant Coach, Peter Mponda to replace the outspoken Dutchman, Pieter De Jongh.

Mponda came to Silver, saw, and decided to make changes as he aimed to challenge Pasuwa’s dominance in local football. The former Dynamos Coach has won five league titles in five years, two Airtel Top 8 Cups, two FDH Bank Cups, Castel Challenge Cup, and he has been the landlord for the Charity Shield Cup.

The last time Silver Strikers won the league was in 2013, they had a better goal difference than Bullets after being tied up on points. The Bankers have been firing and hiring coaches scrambling for success and they have Mponda who is a soaring eagle, 7 wins from eight games.

Pasuwa has just suffered 18 defeats with Bullets in 178 games, winning 106 of them, making him the only coach with the highest winning percentage in the 20th Century. Since what could be described as a deceptive good start, the apprentice has begun to pose more of a threat to the master.

“Silver Strikers is one of the 15 games that we are expected to face in a season. We can’t say that we can have a new approach. We are Bullets, we play with the mind of getting positive results and we must not be looking at how others are doing their businesses,” said Pasuwa downplaying Silver Strikers’ threat.

“We are taking a game at a time and this week we play Bullets,, therefore the boys are ready to play and win”, said Mponda. “The team is in good shape and ready for our assignment on Sunday which we know won’t be easy considering that our opponents are very strong when playing at Kamuzu Stadium.”

A tale of a master and apprentice

A first league meeting between Kalisto Pasuwa and Peter Mponda. The Zimbabwean needed penalties to win the Charity Shield Cup game at Bingu National Stadium earlier this season.

Peter Mponda has binge-able shows at FCB Nyasa Big Bullets, he never wore blue attire during his time of active football in Malawi, but he is wearing it on the weekend against his former bosses and of course against his master.

Mponda is not a protege to Pasuwa as he was already a qualified coach when he joined Bullets’ technical panel as Assistant Coach in June 2019. He was the head coach for Wizards FC but the Zimbabwean gaffer unarguably vouchsafe managerial experience to the former Flames skipper.

The two coaches showed mutual respect to each other during the press conference at Bingu National Stadium earlier this season with Pasuwa saying that he is happy to see Mponda anchoring Silver Strikers’ technical panel.

“He was one of my assistant coaches, but I must not look much at that. I’m happy for him [Mponda], he is one of the coaches in Malawi and I appreciate that. This is our first game of the season and we should not relax,” he said.

Mponda described Kalisto Pasuwa as one of the best coaches that he has faced during his playing and coaching career.

“We are playing against a very good team and they have a very good coach. As a player, I have gone through a lot of coaches and as a coach, I have also worked under very good coaches, but for me, Kalisto stands out and RVG, so he is one of the best coaches that I have seen in my career,” he said.

The crucial match comes at a time when the defending Champions are struggling for consistency this season, winning just three games from their seven matches with five games ending in stalemate.

Though the Bankers will miss the services of Adiel Kaduya Uchizi Vunga, Chimwemwe Idana, and Chikondi Kamanga could be engines for their hunt for the first win against Bullets at Kamuzu Stadium since 2016 when Blessings Tembo’s strike booted Bullets out of the FISD Challenge Cup. The last time the Bankers bagged a win in a league match against Bullets was in 2013 when Blessings Tembo, Ndaziona Chatsalira, and Jester Mulima scored in their convincing 3-1 win.

With Bullets struggling to score goals, Patrick Mwaungulu has been making the difference nodding home four of the team’s 10 and he is a big game player.

“Silver Strikers are coming on us. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 [𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬], but we take each game as it comes. We have to encourage the guys to play Football. There is no difference, the same way we approach the games, have a positive mind and have points coming.

“The only concern is our inability to convert chances into goals. We need to go and work with our strikers,” Pasuwa said after the game against Moyale Barracks.

Bullets have historically had the upper hand in this matchup, boasting five wins, one loss, and five draws against Silver Strikers in recent meetings. Despite a shaky start to the previous season, Bullets have always found a way to outsmart their opponents in crucial fixtures like this.