The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda and Ishemunyoro Chingwere
Had the bottom of the table clash between Mutare City Rovers and Tsholotsho not produced six goals, Week 18 of the 2016 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League would have gone down as one of the worst in history. Unheralded Tsholotsho player Nicholas Mundandishe’s 89th minute header in that three-all thriller was the 249th goal of the season.
After 144 matches the goals-per-game ratio stands at a measly 1,72 goals.
At this stage last season, 302 goals had been banged while in 2014 a total of 314 goals had been scored by Week 18.
Bruce Kangwa leads the 2016 Castle Lager Golden Boot race with seven goals despite leaving Highlanders for Azam of Tanzania over a month ago. More so, he is a defender who recently converted into a midfielder.
Hwange’s Gift Mbweti is close with six goals, but at this rate it is highly unlikely that the eventual winner will break the 20-goal mark.
Last year’s winner Knox Mutizwa had 14 goals, in 2014 Kuda Musharu and Charles Sibanda were joint winners with 12 apiece. In 2012 and 2013 Nelson Maziwisa and Tendai Ndoro were two goals short of the 20-goal mark.
Former Warriors coach Marc Duvillard, a director at Aces Youth Soccer, reckons the increasing commercial value of the game has killed flair.“Look at the administrators we have, be it in Europe or Africa; they are businesspeople coming into the sport to make money and the easiest way they can make money is through results. Coaches are now under pressure to get results and not to entertain people.“So what they are doing is they prepare not to concede and not to score,” said Duvillard, whose academy has produced some of the finest forwards, among them Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat.“The solution is that football people should administer the game while coaches must be encouraged to take risks without the fear of losing their jobs,” said Duvillard.
Norman Maroto, the last Premiership striker to score 20-plus goals, believes modern training techniques are to blame.
Maroto banged 22 goals for Gunners in 2010.
“It is not their (strikers) problem; coaching tactics have become too defensive,” he charged. “Most teams now play with one striker and five midfielders. What is worse is that in most cases the striker will have his back to the goal. For the modern day coach it is all about winning the midfield battle more than scoring.”
For 1996 Soccer Star of the Year Stewart Murisa, who is now coaching Caps United’s developmental side Gunners, the scarcity of creative midfielders is the real problem.“I always hear people blaming the strikers for the lack of goals but few have taken time to look at the kind midfielders we have.
“Do we still have those midfield artists who create loads of chances for strikers? No. During one game I noticed that a certain midfielder made just two forward passes the entire match,” said Murisa, a prolific marksman in his playing days.
