One of the adages that has become a cliché goes, “a wanderer gathers no moss”.
As strange as this may appear, Mighty Wanderers should be an exception to this adage since their football fortunes appear to gather moss, having wandererd in time from 2017 when they last won the TNM Super League to now when they are perched on top of the table and are in the final of FDH Bank Cup.
A new wind is blowing their way, brewing optimism for a team that seemed stuck in time with no league trophy since 2017 and there is renewed belief and confidence that perhaps after eight years wandering in the wilderness, it is finally coming home to Lali Lubani Road.
With bragging rights in their stride and a spring in their step having beaten their archrivals twice and booted them in a knockout match, Wanderers have posted no loss on the board in the league and have racked up 51 points with a game in hand over Bullets who are second with 50 points and have lost four games after 22 games.
The pendulum seems to have swung to the Nomads’ side as Bullets seem falling off from their pedestal with Peter Mponda under heavy scrutiny.
But where should we put our finger on for these two developments?
Khungwa’s star rising
The goalkeeper is the last line of defence, and a good keeper makes saves that helps a team to win points and eventually win a league. Dalitso Khungwa, with 11 clean sheets from 13 games in the league, easily makes a case for a new goal tender to be under the radar of Kallisto Pasuwa, Flames’ head coach.
This is unlike at FCB Nyasa Big Bullets where the chopping and changing at their backline have tinkererd with consistency and trust a goalkeeper needs to build with his defence.
Rotation is good, but sometimes it disturbs a team’s consistency and chemistry.
Innocent Nyasulu, although he ties with Khungwa on 11 clean sheets, has played 18 games, five more games than Khungwa’s 13.
Couple that with the exile of Richard Chimbamba, who is rumoured to be at loggerheads with head coach Peter Mponda over off the pitch issues, leaving Bullets depleted on that position and are extremely vulnerable.
Experience and athleticism in Wanderers’ defence
Stanley Sanudi may be out of the national team’s lineups for off the pitch reasons, but he is now commanding performances that ooze class and experience.
Remember how he thwarted Sadio Mane in Africa Cup Of Nations the last time malawi participated.
The Flames have been vulnerable at the right back position where currently Mcdonald Lameck is being entrusted.
However, Lameck’s man- marking and ability to overlap and underlap to send pinpointing crosses for strikers are not his forte.
But Sanudi has been solid and unrelenting in the league, leaving no pocket of space for players like Chikumbutso Salima to manoeuvre, which helped Wanderers beat Bullets three times they have met this season.
His partner in crime is Timothy Silwimba, whose athleticism, ball anticipation, reading of the game, and quick reactions have given Wanderers the defensive solidity they need when they even play three defenders at the back.
This has also improved the game of Emmanuel Nyirenda and Peter Cholopi as sometimes both Sanudi and Silwimba, as part of defensive transitions, restructure by playing narrow to help the centre backs while Isaac Kaliati and Adam Wallace track back to cover their spaces.
Cholopi and Nyirenda have also been helped by the strength of the midfield, which bosses possession and is well structured to protect the centre backs during transitions when Wanderers lose the ball.
A midfield of combatants and runners
Currently, there is no midfield in the TNM Super League that could muster even a semblance of Wanderers’ midfield.
It is a midfield of soldiers with the heart to risk it all with flying tackles, doggedness, and constant running.
Daniel Kudonto is the epitome of a relentless player who gives his opponents no rest.
He gives Wanderers the hustle-bustle menace with his constant motor-running disrupting attacks with his anticipation skills and turning over to initiate attacks on the front foot and put his team on the pedestal.
After Kudonto was substituted in the first half of his maiden Blantyre derby for his underwhelming performance, it would not be hyperbolic to claim that Kudonto has now played starring roles that have condemned Bullets to two losses in the three losses Bullets have suffered both in the 0-3 drubbing and the recent 1-0 derby victory.
No Bullets midfielder matched his energy and intensity by his running that overwhelmed Bullets’ midfield.
In fact, he deserved the man of the match award more than Promise Kamwendo who scored the winner in the 1-0 demolition of Bullets that knocked them out of the FDH Bank Cup.
Felix Zulu, with multiple man of the match awards across the whole spectrum of competitions, is the heartbeat of Wanderers at the midfield.
His grit and steel at the midfield, coupled with his box to box style of his play, set the tone for all players to follow suit as the standard of application.
This is in sharp contrast with Bullets whose midfielders have no legs to run and challenge balls at the midfield.
Frank Willard is never box to box as a number six because he plays as if he is pinned and is slow to react to challenges.
Similarly, Paul Master is predictable and slow as a snail at the midfield while Wongani Lungu is not as dynamic as before and has lost form.
Chawanangwa Gumbo does not have the physicality at the midfield and has a soft touch not required at the centre of the midfield.
Gumbo has also lost the finesse that polished his passing skills when he occupied half spaces.
In addition, Mponda loses the combative mentality needed at the midfield when he plays Yankho Singo at the back, although it is because of a lack of options.
Singo is that player who could challenge players like Kudonto or Singini at the midfield and be the launch pad for Bullets’ attacks to support Salima and Babatunde Adepoju who continue chasing shadows and have lost form at a wrong time when Bullets are pushing to add another trophy in their cabinet.
As Wanderers prepare to face Silver Strikers in the FDH Bank Cup final in Lilongwe this weekend, they will be buoyed by confidence and belief rising from beating their archrivals convincingly while riding on the new wind blowing their way giving them a novel sensation.
As for Bullets, who are currently pegged back as they are too predictable in their attack sequences, hence found out, could be unsure with every step they now take.
With several disgruntled players in their midst, they are looking down the barrel of losing the remaining trophies which will add to the air of acrimony prevailing at FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
