Can Muza finally break 20-goal barrier?

By The Standard and Newsday | Mar. 25, 2022 | 3 Min read

Muza and Manica Diamonds’ Nyasha Chintuli have each scored seven goals this season at a rate of almost a goal per game and if they maintain that run, they could find themselves ranking among some of the best forwards the league has seen.

BY FORTUNE MBELE The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League is only eight games old, but Chicken Inn striker Brian Muza has already shown that he could be the man to finally break the 20-goal mark, a feat last achieved by Norman Maroto in Gunners colours a decade ago.

Caps United’s William Manondo has scored six and looks a good contender for the Golden Boot Award so as Manica Diamonds’ Lloyd Katongomara with five goals to his credit.

Muza has scored in each of the GameCocks’ games except one while Chintuli scored four goals at Ngezi Platinum Stars and three at Manica Diamonds.

The robust and hard-running Muza, plucked from Division One side Talen Vision at the beginning of 2020, said 20 goals were achievable, adding that he was not promising.

He was top goalscorer in the Zifa Southern Region Division One league in 2019 with 14 goals when his side was narrowly beaten to the Premiership ticket by Bulawayo City.

“If I remain in good form and keep scoring, 20 goals are achievable but I don’t want to promise anything. I’ll cross the bridge when I get to it because so many things can happen in football. You can lose form and go even for 10 games without getting a goal. I pray that I avoid injuries, keep playing and keep scoring because that is the only way I can attract foreign clubs as our local football is not that rewarding. It is all about securing a future because football is a short-term career,” Muza said.

Muza opened his scoring account of the season last November when Chicken Inn lost 2-1 to champions FC Platinum at Mandava Stadium and when the league resumed this year with the third round of matches, Muza was on target again in Chicken Inn’s third game when they walloped Tenax 3-0 at Luveve Stadium.

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The following week, Chicken Inn dismissed neighbours Bulawayo Chiefs 2-1 and Muza added his name to the scoresheet in that game and struck again 12 minutes before the final whistle in the next game with a solitary goal that sunk giants Dynamos at the National Sports Stadium.

He was on target again in the 2-0 win against ZPC Kariba at Nyamhunga before last weekend’s brace that sent Black Rhinos packing back to the barracks.

Before football was suspended owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Clive Augusto won the Golden Boot with 14 goals in the 2019 season having played just half the season before he was snapped up by South Africa’s Maritzburg United.

In 2018, it was FC Platinum’s Rodwell Chinyengetere with 17 goals and Dominic Chungwa of Caps United with the same number of goals the previous year to emerge the winner of the coveted prize.

Leonard Tsipa of Caps United won in 2016 with a meagre 12 goals while Highlanders’ Knox Mutizwa in 2015 came in with 14 goals after playing only 17 games.

Highlanders’ Charles Sibanda and How Mine’s Kudakwashe Musharu were joint winners in 2014 with 13 goals apiece, with Tendai Ndoro banging in 18 goals while he was at Chicken Inn in 2013. Some of the Golden Boot winners in the past include Chipo Tsodzo, (2001), with 27 goals as well as Zenzo Moyo (2000), who was at Highlanders finishing with 22 goals.

Alois Bunjira, who scored 23 goals in half the season at Caps in 1996, remains one of the most prolific strikers in the league in terms of goals per game ratio.

PSL Top Goal Scorers