Be Forward Wanderers and Masters Security are two teams with one common denominator. They will be the only teams to fly the Malawi flag in Confederation of African Football\u2019s (Caf) two club competitions next year.
\nWanderers were paired against the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s AC Vita in the Caf Champions League\u2019s preliminary round, while Masters will play Angola\u2019s Atletico Petroleos in the competition\u2019s second tier, the Confederations Cup.
\nBut at Balaka Stadium this afternoon, the two will set aside the one major factor that unites them and bay for each other\u2019s blood as they aim at garnering full points in their TNM Super League match.
\nWanderers will go into this encounter in search for maximum points to seal their league title challenge with one game to spare.
\nMasters, on the other hand, will have to sweat for victory to be assured of participation in the top-flight league next season.
\nDefeat for the Lilongwe-based side means giving ill-fated Premier Bet Wizards the lifeline in their league survival campaign.
\nMasters need just three points to be assured of safety, but they have made life difficult for themselves following a run of three consecutive defeats at the hands of Red Lions, Blantyre United and Civil Sporting Club.
\nHead Coach Abbas Makawa knows a fourth straight defeat to Wanderers is going to put his side\u2019s survival chances on a knife\u2019s edge.
\nAfter facing their fellow Caf-bound side, Masters will remain with Kamuzu Barracks and Nyasa Big Bullets on their to-do list and that should give Makawa sleepless nights.
\nThe Masters mentor also has to ensure that his top striker Vincent Nyangulu, rediscovers his scoring form after going three games without finding the net.
\n\u201cWe are in a very difficult situation, but we have a plan on how to come out of this. We must get the three points, come what may. We have to treat this game with total care,\u201d Makawa said.
\nHis Nomads counterpart, Yasin Osman, said he would love to see his charges bagging the title today, to kill off last day pressure against Red Lions.
\nWanderers are on the brink of landing their first league title since 2006 following their 3-1 victory over resilient Mzuni last Sunday at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.
\nOsman will expect forward Peter Wadabwa, winger Yamikani Chester and playmaker Joseph Kamwendo to repeat the damage they inflicted on Mzuni last week.
\n\u201cWe are closer [to the promised land], but we are not there yet. So it is good to wrap it against Masters today. We do not have to wait for the final day,\u201d Osman said.
\nWanderers\u2019 bitter rivals, Bullets are away at Chitowe to play Dwangwa United, while Wizards are up north to face relegated Chitipa United at Karonga Stadium.
\nMzuni will be looking to recover from last weekend\u2019s defeat to Wanderers when they travel to Chilomoni Stadium in Blantyre to take on Blantyre United.
\nIn the Capital City, it will be a clash of giants as Kamuzu Barracks host Silver Strikers at Civo Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Be Forward Wanderers and Masters Security are two teams with one common denominator. They will be the only teams to fly the Malawi flag in Confederation of African Football\u2019s (Caf) two club competitions next year. Wanderers were paired against the Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s AC Vita in the Caf Champions League\u2019s preliminary round, while Masters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57688,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57681\/revisions\/57688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}