ZIMBABWE international striker Nyasha Mushekwi’s prolific goal-scoring form in the Swedish Allsvenskan League has not gone unnoticed with his third brace of the campaign in Djurgardens’ 3-2 victory over Halmstad on Monday attracting the attention of six European teams including English Premier League (EPL) side Leicester City.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
Other teams that have reportedly joined the race to sign the Zimbabwean striker are Netherlands sides FC Groningen and SC Heerenveen, Bundesliga clubs Harmburger SV, FC Augsburg and FC Nurnberg.
Leicester survived relegation from the EPL last week with one match to spare.
“Today was a difficult match. I’m used to playing on artificial turf, and today it was the grass. Difficult. But three points is what we came for, and three points is what we got. So I thank God for everything. We worked hard, the first half was difficult, but in others we pressed on and got the victory,” the on loan Mamelodi Sundowns striker told www.fotbolldirekt.se after the match.
“My main goal was to score goals. So I’m happy that it happened so far in the season. I hope I can continue to score goals during the season. Now we are at the top, the other matches we follow as the week goes.”
The 27-year-old could have scored a hat-trick after he nodded in the first half a ball that looked to be over the line before goalkeeper Lukic hit it out on the field again and defender Emil Bergstrom pressed into the top corner.
“I think it crossed the line before. I do not know how it gets, it does not matter. It was three points we came for, and it was three points we got,” he said.
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“I’m enjoying right now. I think it’s been really fun,” Mushekwi added.
Djurgardens went into the lead 14 minutes into the match through Bergstrom with the home team equalising 14 minutes later courtesy of Junes Barny.
But the Zimbabwean striker doubled his side’s lead on 75 minutes.
With leadership changing hands several times, England international James Keen levelled matters at the stroke of full time. Not to be outdone, the Zimbabwean sew up the tie in referee’s optional time.
The victory lifted Djurgardens from fourth to the top of the league table with 19 points from nine matches.
The Swedish club though has played one more game than the rest of the teams.
IFK Goteborg are on 19th position from eight matches, while Malmo FF are third on 18 points from the same number of matches. Last week, Mushekwi scored another brace in his team’s 3-2 win over Atvidaberg, his second since joining the club at the start of the season.
His first brace came in Djurgardens’ 3-1 win over Falkenberg which saw him sharing the top goal scorers’ chart with Norway striker Jo Inge Berget who plays for Malmo.
He leads the goalscorers’ chart with nine goals in nine matches of the campaign — a feat that has stunned watchers of the global game.
Norwegian striker Berget has fallen behind on the goal-scoring charts with six goals.
The former Caps United striker had been loaned to Belgium side KV Oostende in February last year before picking up a career-threatening injury and had appeared to be giving up on his career.
He had not kicked a soccer ball since then as he struggled to recover from the injury.
But since signing for the Swedish club from Mamelodi Sundowns, where he notched 40 goals in 58 starts, Mushekwi has rediscovered his form and is now well poised to bang the top goalscorer award if he maintains his form.
And certainly Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa could be having a hitman to partner Knowledge Musona when the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers begin next month.
