FROM THE TERRACES

…..as Mzuni FC comes of age

By Gibson KAMANGA

Last week, my colleague had warned against laxity and complacency on the part of TNM Super league debutants, Chitipa United if it is to survive the chopping board from the league.

It was glittering generalities for the rookies as they frustrated the most successful club on the land, Nyasa Big Bullets to a nil nil draw. Being a maiden game, this could not have been so motivating!

However, my colleague had issued a warning that the TNM flag ship was not Nyasa Big Bullets only, and neither (was) is it played on a single (home) stadium only. Minus, NBB, there are other 13 legion of energetic sets of macho men and the battle fronts have to be on both at home and at the enemy’s territories. It appears these rookies had completely paid a blind eye, or are pretending to.

Just like their predecessor, Karonga United Fc, (coincidentally, they also share the same geographical boundaries), Chitipa United seemed to be suffering from a similar ailment; selective treatment to their opponents. Much as it is too early to start eulogizing, but for a team that stopped Nyasa Big Bullets and a week later, white-washed to minnows like Premier Bet Wizards and fellow new face in the league, Blantyre United, you just know that something is amiss in the team. It appears the team just wants to make a name by stopping giants, more especially when at their own backyard, Mzuzu Stadium, but forsake other equally important matches, not to talk of away games.

Unfortunately, such is not the mantra for a team with serious ambition of staying put in the league. No match should be treated with kid’s glove.

The journey is still on, we hope the Chitipa based outfit is going to find the key to be unlocking the defenses of other teams when playing for both home and away soils. We, FROM THE TERRACES, also believe that the 2016 Simama Premier league runners up-cum-champions are going to be treating all matches as equally important as that of Nyasa Big Bullets.  

Whilst Chitipa United has found it hard to be solid when it travels, it is a completely different story to the Green Intellectuals of Mzuni FC. In the previous season, the students were bad travelers; just like the rookies, Chitipa United now. However, this season, it appears Mzuni FC has finally generated a formula that has cast away the evil spirits of donating points every time it fought outside its territory.

For the two away matches that the Green Intellectuals have played, winning one, and drawing one (with Blue Eagles FC), is a sign of a team that is on a mission. It shows seriousness and maturity. This is already a team that is a hard-nut-to-crack when playing on home soils. So, that, marrying with this newly devised formula is but a visa to the top eight position by the end of the season.

Anyway, it is still too early to start generating conclusions. Soccer is very unpredictable. Impossible is nothing in soccer. We FROM THE TERRACES are watching as teams battle and outmuscle each other towards the promised land cometh the end of the season.