Ndoro scoring for fun
Orlando Pirates coach, Muhsin Ertugral has described Tendai Ndoro as a “special talent and a star player” after the Warriors striker hit a brace to guide his team to a 2-1 win over Ajax Cape Town on Tuesday night.
BY Kevin Mapasure
The hitman has picked up from where he left off last season, with his free scoring ability, finding the net five times in the first two matches of the 2016-17 South African topflight league season.
The brace came at the back of a hat-trick in the season opener against Golden Arrows.
In the match against Ajax Cape Town, Ndoro scored a quick brace within three minutes to put his side ahead with goals in the 35th and 37th minutes, before Nathan Pulse pulled one back for Ajax Cape Town.
So early into the season, Ndoro has already affirmed himself as a front-runner for the Golden Boot Award.
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At this stage, he is three goals clear of his nearest rivals in the race.
He is three goals clear of Ajax’s Nathan Paulse and injured Chippa United hitman, Rhulani Manzini at the top of the scoring charts. A pleased Eturgral lavished Ndoro with praise, describing him as a striker who possesses everything and deserves special treatment. Eturgral revealed that he tries to draw from Ndoro’s talent by moulding Orlando Pirates’ play around the forward.
“Tendai, for me, is a star player. You get these special characters and you have to treat these types of players differently. He has that spark in front of goal,” he said. “But for me, the biggest problem was that he played for Zimbabwe, and only arrived back on Thursday, so he was very tired. But he has that sense of when to go, and when to stay, and when he gets into a one-versus-one situation in front of goal, he’s deadly, and understands the lines of opponents very well.”
The Turkish coach said he was very pleased to have Ndoro in his team.
“We work on patterns in training according to his movements and how he’d like to receive the ball, and he’s getting better and better with that — he’s very quick in executing that. When it comes to one-versus-one, he always scores, and I’m very pleased to have a player like that.”
Ndoro’s form comes as good news for Warriors coach, Kalisto Pasuwa, as he prepares for the Afcon 2017 finals, where the hitman is expected to play a crucial role.
The former Chicken Inn star featured as a second half substitute for the Warriors in their last match against Guinea in their final Group L qualifier, where he did not have a good outing.
He led the line in the match before that when Zimbabwe hosted Malawi, but failed to find the target, with the Warriors winning 3-0. While he has been doing well, he may face competition from Nyasha Mushekwi for the number nine role in the Warriors set up.
Mushekwi has also been in imperious form for his Chinese second tier league side, Dalian Yifang, where he has scored 20 goals for his club.
With his strikers doing well, Pasuwa will be presented with a wonderful selection headache come January, if they can maintain the rich form.
Knowledge Musona has also been doing well for his Belgain Club KV Oostende.
But, at the moment, it is Ndoro, who is enjoying his moment in the sun and will be hoping he can continue on that purple patch.
