BY MICHAEL KARIATI
THERE was a time this season when it was thought we could — this year — have one or two strikers in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League scoring more than 20 goals.
That was when so many strikers turned on the style in the Premiership grabbing goals at will with Caps United’s William Manhondo and Manica Diamonds’ Nyasha Tito Chintuli scoring nine goals after the first 11 games of the season.
Simple mathematics show that at that rate it would have been possible for both Manhondo and Chintuli to come out with at least 28 goals from the 34 matches that make up the Premiership season.
There too was Chicken Inn’s Brian Muza who at the same time had scored seven goals from the same number of 11 matches which would at that rate guarantee him of about 21 goals come the end of the season.
At that time, it was thought — with Hwahwa’s Jayden Barake on six goals — that the race for the Golden Boot would be one of the most exciting and competitive in recent years.
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Sadly, though, the goals have dried up and four games later, Manhondo and Chintuli are still stuck on nine goals, while Muza is still on seven goals, raising doubts whether the 20 goal target will be surpassed.
Triangle’s Donald Ngoma who made his name at FC Platinum is also on seven goals in 15 matches for the surprise packages of the 2022 Castle Lager PSL season.
Critics are now prepared to offer heavy odds that none of the strikers in the PSL will reach 20 goals considering the lack of consistency among those thought to be the hitmen of the local league.
This is unlike in the past when Zimbabwe was the land of great goal hungry strikers with Peter Nyama scoring 62 goals in one season, Moses Chunga 46, and the likes of Shacky Tauro and Gift Mpariwa scoring more than 30 goals.
At one time, Chunga jokingly laughed off the fact that he scored only 46 goals. “I was scoring and they were counting. I don’t even know how many goals I scored because I wasn’t the one counting. They could be more,” joked Chunga.
Even the generations which followed, the likes of Agent Sawu, Wilfred Mugeyi, Alois Bunjira, Zenzo Moyo, Adam and Peter Ndlovu, saw their goals tally go above 25 in one season.
Some might argue that the reason why goals for the likes of Chunga, Tauro and Sawu reached astronomical figures was because they included goals from knockout tournaments like the Chibuku Trophy, the BAT Rosebowl, the Rothmans Shield and Castle Cup.
However, when one even includes goals from the just ended Chibuku Super Cup both Manhondo and Chintuli might even fail to go above 11 goals even though the tournament included matches played at league basis before the knockout stages.
It should also be noted that the BAT Super League had 12 clubs which means that the teams at that time played 12 matches less than what the clubs play under the current 18-team PSL assembly.
As from 1994, the Premiership had 16 teams which means, the teams of those days played less games but still the likes of Zenzo Moyo and Bunjira scored more goals than the strikers of today.
What is ironic is that this trend of few goals from the PSL’s top scorers started just a few years ago, raising questions whether it is because of a coaching tactical change or just that Zimbabwe is not creating more
good enough strikers with a penchant for goals.
It is saddening to note that the joint winners of the 2014 Golden Boot, Charles Sibanda and Kuda Musharu, had only 12 goals each to their credit while Clive Augusto managed only 14 goals in 2019.
A few years back in 2011 when Castle Lager took over sponsorship of the PSL, Roderick Mutuma of champions, Dynamos, scored only 14 goals, a total that was less than half of the season’s matches.
In 2012, Shabanie Mine’s Nelson Mazivisa went four goals better than Mutuma, scoring 18 goals, which were three goals more than half of the season’s then 30 games.
A year later, Chicken inn’s Tendai Ndoro also scored 18 goals but some argue that Ndoro could have scored more had he not left the PSL for South Africa’s Mpumalanga Black Aces during the course of the season.
Sadly, though, Ndoro’s career came to an end before it fully blossomed due to a succession of blunders in his club choices and marital problems.
Leonard Tsipa in 2016 with 18 goals and both Dominic Chungwa in 2017 and Rodwell Chinyengetere in 2018 with 17 goals, all failed to reach 20 goals from as many as 34 matches.
The dearth in top notch strikers has also extended to the national team which — for many years — has relied too heavily on one man for goals — Knowledge Musona, and at times Khama Billiart, who was not an all out striker.
With his international retirement announcement having sailed through, Zimbabwe will not have it easy to find another Musona to fill that Warriors goal scoring role.
Lyon’s Tino Kadewere and Perfect Chikwende of Bulawayo Chiefs got their chances and failed. Prince Dube of Azam in Tanzania has not had those too many chances but misses too many matches due to injuries while back at home, there is no regular goal hungry scorer to talk about.
Goals bring excitement to the game and surely something needs to be done to revive the good old days when Tauro, Chunga, Mpariwa, Mugeyi, Moyo, Sawu attracted thousands to stadiums with their goal scoring touch.
The truth is that goal hungry strikers are drying up fast if not faster than normal, and the question is : How do we do it to bring that hunger for goals back at our stadiums ?
- For your comments, views, and suggestions mkariati@gmail.com or WhatsApp on 0773 266 779.