While history dictates the hype around the much anticipated Blantyre Derby, recent encounters have failed to live up to expectations. It has become a snore fest.
This Saturday, the 76th edition of the Derby takes place at Kamuzu Stadium as the TNM Super League defending champions FCB Nyasa Big Bullets host Mighty Mukuru Wanderers.
These giants will draw the attention of fans across the country, but is it worth all the hype?
On the face of things, it is a massive fixture with Swanzurimo Ramadhan’s men sitting in third place with eight points, while Bullets are fourth with the same number of points, but have an inferior goal difference to the Nomads.
This leads to the problem that we have with this fixture: both teams seem so scared to lose that they aren’t willing to take the necessary risks needed to claim the victory.
The stats back this up as well: in the last 22 matches between the two sides, 11 have ended in a draw. Out of those draws, there have been four matches that ended 0-0 since 2012.
There hasn’t been a winner in the derby for the last three league matches. You have to go as far back as March 2022, when Bullets beat Wanderers 2-1 in the first round of that season, to find a league match between the two sides that did not end in a draw.
The last time Wanderers managed to come out top in a league fixture against their rivals was in September 2021 when Vincent Nyangulu scored the only goal to inspire them to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over the People’s Team. That is a run of four games without an outright victory and the longest run of games without a win in 90 minutes since the derby began.
This is staggering when you consider the financial power behind the two clubs, as well as the expectations and size of their respective fan base.
Surely, the time has come for the two coaches to go all out for a victory. A win against their closest rivals, and the chance to move top of the table (depending on Silver Strikers’ result away from Baka City), should be enough temptation to force the coaches’ hands.
Kalisto Pasuwa, in his pre-match conference, said it was his wish to see people getting entertained. From his sentiments, he admitted that the derby hasn’t lived up to its billing.
When the two teams met in the Castel Challenge Cup semi-final, penalties had to decide the winner.
The derby has, for so many years, too often up a pale of imitation on the field of the always colorful, and vibrant atmosphere inside the iconic stadium.
We are hoping to see a vibrant clash between the two giants. Nevertheless, no matter how agonizingly dreadful these teams have been recently when playing each other, the hype of this match will never die-it will burn for eternity.
May the best team carry the day.
