Report card from Euro leagues

07 May, 2017 - 00:05 0 Views
Report card from Euro leagues

The Sunday Mail

Langton Nyakwenda
Warriors centre-back Costa Nhamoinesu has not played competitive football since February, Knowledge Musona hasn’t scored a goal since April 1, and Marvelous Nakamba is dazzling in the Dutch league.

It’s been a bag of mixed fortunes for the Warriors’ contingent in Europe at a time when the men’s senior national soccer team caretaker coach Norman Mapeza is preparing for Zimbabwe’s first 2019 Afcon qualifier against Liberia at the National Sports Stadium in Harare on June 11.

First choice centre-back Nhamoinesu is struggling for match fitness, having last seen action on February 26 when his Czech Republic side Sparta Praha lost 1-3 to Jablonec.

He lasted only 21 minutes in that match.

The 31-year-old Nhamoinesu made 25 appearances for Sparta Praha in the 2015/2016 Czech Liga but this term the dreadlocked defender – nicknamed Zim-Asset by Warriors fans – has only featured 16 times.

There are four rounds of action left in the 2016/2017 Czech Liga and Nhamoinesu’s club is third on the log, 10 points behind leaders Slavia Praha.

Warriors’ top-scorer Musona, who has been touted to take over the armband from Willard Katsande, is experiencing a goal drought in Belgium’s First Division A League where he turns out for KV Oostende.

Musona’s last goal came on Fool’s Day in 1-1 with Sporting Charleroi in a First Division A match.

The Warriors’ talisman has 10 league goals in 26 appearances this season.

His strengths this term, according to the statisticians, include his ability to thread defence splitting passes and holding onto the ball.

KV Oostende finished fifth in the just-ended season of a league now rated the ninth best in Europe by Uefa’s coefficient rankings, and they are now playing in the Championship play-offs.

Oostende host Gent at the Versluys Arena at 2:30pm today, and Musona will be hoping to once again find the back of the net.

However, it keeps getting better for central midfielder Nakamba, who is arguably the Warriors’ most outstanding foreign-based player at the moment.

The 23-year-old Nakamba became part of a remarkable statistic last Sunday when he bagged his first silverware in Europe with Vitesse.

Vitesse beat AZ Alkmaar 2-0 in the Dutch Cup final to collect their first major trophy in their 125-year history.

Nakamba played 90 minutes in that final and will play in the Europa League next season that is if he stays in Arnhem.

Nakamba is rated the third-best player at his club by respected football stats collectors Whoscored.com, he was substituted only twice in 29 league appearances for Vitesse, and is in the running for the team’s April Player of the Month Award.

Georgian defender Guram Kashia and Dutch striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel, who has banged 18 goals for Vitesse, are the two players rated above Nakamba.

The left-footed central midfielder has played 2 601 minutes, the third highest at the club, and has missed only three of Vitesse’s 32 league games.

Nakamba’s best rating of 8,93 came when he put up a Man-of-the-Match performance in Vitesse’s 5-0 thrashing of Sparta Rotterdam at GelreDome Stadium on March 10, scoring the team’s third goal on the stroke of half-time.

Nakamba, who was linked with a move to the English Premier League in January, has improved his tackling and ball interception, according to Dutch Eredivisie match reports.

Vitesse are sixth in Eredivisie with 48 points – a massive 31 behind log-leaders Feyernoord – and play Utrecht at the Stadion Galgenwaard at 2:30pm today.

In Sweden, rising forward Tinotenda Kadewere scored his first goal of the season for FC Djurgarden last Monday.

The 21-year-old came on as a 60th-minute substitute and grabbed a 93rd minute equaliser as FC Djurgarden battled to a 3-3 home draw against Norrkoping at the Tele 2 Arena.

Djurgarden have played six games in the new season and Kadewere has made three appearances (one start).

“I have started only once so I guess there is nothing much to talk about. It was good getting a vital goal for the club last week and I hope for the better,” Kadewere told The Sunday Mail Sport from Sweden last Thursday.

But the sun could be setting for 33-year-old Quincy Antipas who has made eight substitute appearances in Danish 1st Division side Hobro’s 28 matches so far.

Antipas was an unused substitute when Hobro lost 1-2 at home against Roskilde on April 30 and a week earlier, the former Caps United striker had come on in the 80th minute as Hobro suffered a 0-3 away defeat at FC Helsingor.

Another Zimbabwean at Hobro, Nigel Ndlovu, is yet to feature, while Tanaka Chinyahara has returned home.

Hobro are, however, set to make a return to the Danish Superliga as they top the 1st Division log standings.

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