Lack of goals: What is the cause?

THE deteriorating standards among Zimbabwe strikers continues to be a major challenge to the game.

In the past fans paid their money not just to watch plenty plus goals but quality as well.

League champions’ starlet Takunda Benhura lifted the Golden Boot last season after finding the back of the net a paltry 13 times. Not even half of Moses Chunga’s tally of 30 league goals.

That year Chunga scored 46 with 16 from cup games.

Considering that he was a midfielder and that the league had 14 teams, this shows the huge gulf between the talent of yesteryear and today’s. The quality of the walls that Chunga breached has legendary names like Felix Ntuthu, Douglas Mloyi, Benedict Moyo, Ephraim Chawanda, Ephraim Dzimbiri, Ephert Lungu, Abraham Mwanza, Dickson Banda, Clever Muzuva, Alexander Maseko, Misheck Sibanda and Josphat Humbasha.
Cosmas Zulu a veteran coach and legend in the game said the challenge was multi-pronged ranging from lack of adequately qualified coaches at elementary level to facilities at schools and community.

Zulu said another challenge is that not much effort was put to improve scoring at training. He blamed coaches for not putting enough hours in shooting drills.

“The coaches are not spending enough time on shooting drills hence the poor scoring. You cannot spend the whole season working on defence when you are not scoring goals. You need to go to training and spend most of the time shooting because you are not scoring,” said Zulu.

The veteran coach said they used to do what they call “shower” where after training they engaged in serious shooting and finishing exercises.

Only those who found the target would be allowed to go and shower. He says nowadays many coaches do not expose players to that.
Shortage of equipment is one of the problems he highlighted. He said the ball to player ratio was very low saying teams needed over 50 balls per session to improve the contact opportunities with the ball. He said even at elementary level kids found themselves with a few balls to effectively work on fundamentals.

“We need equipment, we need balls at an average of a ball per player, there must be over 50 balls per drill,” said Zulu.

Lindani Kurairwa who played for Phinda Mzala a very talented group of boys in the Zifa Southern Region in 1996, said their top striker Malvern Ntini did not have to be as skilful as them. The supply channels were activated and they knew where to find him.

He said creativity was to blame and that strikers did not put extra effort on their weaknesses and build confidence at training. He said once they make it a habit at training it will follow in matches.

Veteran sports writer and analyst Nash Mukokwayarira, himself a former Division One player with Pigott Maskew and Bulawayo Arsenal, said there was a lack of quality strikers in the league.

“We lack quality strikers, chances are being created but the conversion rate is pathetic. We just lack quality, it goes down to development.

“Do we have development coaches that are producing the quality we want? The answer is No,” said Mukokwayarira.
Dalubuhle Bhebhe, among local coaches to train in Brazil in a list that has the late Barry Daka, Sunday Chidzambwa and Paul Moyo, said the athletic demands for strikers had to be appreciated.

“For one to be a good player there was a need for one to have ORDER (Orientation, Rhythm, Differentiation, Equilibrium and Reaction,” said Bhebhe who has had stints with Bulawayo Chiefs, Chicken Inn, Sparrows and his own football school.

On Orientation, he said: “The player must have positional awareness when he is on the field of play in relation to the goal, the goalkeeper, the ball, the opponent and to the team mate. This information helps in decision making, selection of technique to be used when shooting and where to place the ball where the goalkeeper has the least chance to save it.

On rhythm he said: “This in simple terms means the tempo, or precisely the speed of play. This helps the player to know when to run, where to run, how to run and at what speed so as to get a competitive advantage to improve his chances of scoring.”

The player’s ability to adjust using different apparel, training equipment, different standards of soccer balls, surfaces, pitch sizes and weather lighting were key features for a striker. He said these affect his decision making.

Bhebhe said on equilibrium: “These are proprioceptive characteristics one needs when executing a technique. In simple terms this means the balance needed when executing a technique when falling or under physical pressure from an opponent.”

Reaction, he said, was the player’s ability to use visual queues in adapting to the ever-changing environment quickly and safely to score a goal.

Yesteryear players got these athletic characteristics from playing a lot of outdoor games especially street soccer. Street soccer was the greatest producer of great players.

Taking a closer look at street soccer will greatly help understand the paradox, he said.

Playing surfaces in street soccer varied a lot from tarred surfaces, gravel, concrete surfaces, clay surfaces and many more. This influenced ball speed, player movement patterns and decision making. The size of the pitch would mostly be determined by the number of players and availability of space.

In most cases the game was played in confined spaces, which was great for neuro-cognitive development and speed training. This also improved close ball control and decision making.

Todays’ player has very little or no exposure to the kind of harsh conditions yesteryear players developed on, making them not fully developed athletes and therefore making them fail to score regularly.

It is the duty of the football practitioner of today to incorporate and create the conditions that may see fans watch more goals at stadia.