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NewsDay

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Mushekwi, Nhamoinesu shine

Sport
NYASHA Mushekwi was back on the scoring charts for KV Oostende in the Belgian top-flight football league as they beat Genk 4-0

NYASHA Mushekwi was back on the scoring charts for KV Oostende in the Belgian top-flight football league as they beat Genk 4-0 to move further from the relegation zone.

Zimbabweans Abroad with Wellington Toni

They are now in 13th place with 15 points while Vusa Nyoni was only a 90th minute substitute in the same league for Mons as they went down 1-0 to Standard Liege to remain at the bottom of the log.

As usual, there was no place for Ovidy Karuru at OH Leuven as they drew 1-1 with Kortrijk while Australian based goalkeeper Tando Velaphi continued to warm the bench for Melbourne Heart as they went down 3-1 to Newcastle Jets.

No other Zimbabwean strikers were on target in South Africa and Europe this weekend with Kaizer Chiefs being the biggest casualties after they were knocked out of the Telkom Knockout competition after losing 1-0 to Platinum Stars.

It was a match that was supposed to mark the return of striker Knowledge Musona from a shoulder injury, but it all ended in agony. Musona came in in the 65th minute, but could not change the tide while fellow striker and substitute Kingston Nkhatha also struggled in front of goal.

Willard Katsande featured for Chiefs, but there was no place for former Hwange, Monomotapa, Dynamos and Orlando Pirates striker Takesure Chinyama in the Stars line-up. Stars will now face Orlando Pirates in the final after the Ghost beat Supersport United 2-1 after extra time.

Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter was clearly not amused by the loss. “The rationale of bringing on Erick Mathoho in the last minute of the game was to go route one and to get (Bernard) Parker, Nkhatha and Knowledge to feed from him. I was tired to see us waiting,” Baxter told the club’s official website.

“It took long to bring him on and I don’t think we managed to get any ball to Erick.

“We did not show the hunger and urgency that we needed in a knockout game to enable us to go to the final. “We have not been successful in dealing with the past glory. We have to find out where our strength lies and apply that. Tonight I needed more passion, desire and urgency, which was not there. It doesn’t matter who you play, you have took look at yourself first. I will take the responsibility for the results. The players must take the responsibility for making sure they give 110% best performance in the game.

“This year we are not sticking together. We may be working hard but we work hard as individuals, so it fractures the team. The consistency is nonexistent, and that gives our opponents a chance when they play against us this season. We need to stretch ourselves more.”

Onisimor Bhasera and Benjani Mwaruwari featured for Bidvest Wits as they drew 0-0 against Method Mwanjali’s Mpumalanga Black Aces. Denver Mukamba is getting no game time at Wits and perhaps he should consider doing a Simba Sithole and rediscover himself at Dynamos.

Washington Arubi and Obadiah Tarumbwa were on the receiving end at Pretoria University as they were thumped 3-0 by Polokwane City in the South African Premiership. Carlington Nyadombo scored an own goal as AmaZulu threw away a 1-0 lead to draw 1-1 against Free State Stars with Tapuwa Kapini still on the bench.

In Denmark, Quincy Antipas played the entire game as Brondby shocked log leaders Midtjylland 1-0 to move into fourth place with 24 points, six behind the leaders.

While other strikers were struggling, it was business as usual for Costa Nhamoinesu in the Czech Republic as he scored his third goal of the season in leaders Sparta Prague’s 4-1 demolition of Mlada Boleslav.