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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
THE Sun, Britain’s best-selling newspaper, dubbed it the “most outrageous miss of all-time,” and Yahoo Sport called it “the miss of the tournament.”
Qatar-based beIN Sports described it as “one of the Africa Cup of Nations’ all-time great misses.”
Today marks exactly a year since Zimbabwe captain, Knowledge Musona, produced that horror miss in the drawn 2019 AFCON Group A match against Uganda at the Cairo International Stadium.
On a night the Warriors produced a powerful show, creating a number of fine chances, it was their talismanic leader — whose five goals in the qualifiers had powered them to the football showcase — who produced an astonishing miss.
The build-up to the match had been dominated by a fierce war, on Twitter, between the fans of the Warriors and the Cranes.
And, the contest was a lively end-to-end battle, with the East Africans taking an early lead before Musona and Ovidy Karuru combined to tee up Khama Billiat for an equaliser, in the first half.
With the Warriors playing with both style, and penetration, they carved out a number of fine chances, which should have been taken, and they would have been worthy winners of this contest even by a two-or-three-goal margin.
The best fell to the right man, the one whose name would have emerged if a poll had been taken, among the 15 million Zimbabweans, to name the person they wanted the best chance, in any given Warriors game, to fall to.
Musona had scored the final and insurance goal in the final qualifier against Congo-Brazzaville, with the 2-0 victory in that match taking the Warriors to the 2019 AFCON jamboree.
Only two other players, across the entire continent, had scored more goals than the five Musona scored for his Warriors.
His hat-trick against Liberia, in the 3-0 win, was historic — the first time a Warriors skipper had scored more than two goals in an AFCON qualifier.
His cheeky goal in Lubumbashi, proved to be the winner in the 2-1 victory over the DRC.
While he was facing challenges to try and impose himself at club level in Belgium, in the colours of his country, he continued to be a different beast altogether.
The exemplary skipper who kept providing the Warriors with their X-Factor.
So, when the great opportunity presented itself, five minutes after the break on June 26, 2019, to millions of the Warriors fans, it fell to the perfect man.
Let’s try to rewind it again.
The Warriors opened the Cranes defence with a superb move which saw the ball being switched from the belly of the Ugandans’ rearguard to the right channel where Karuru was charging in.
He spread it across the penalty area, eliminating giant goalkeeper Denis Onyango, and his defence, in the process, and presenting Musona with a great chance.
A yawning goal, in front of him, pleading with him to just stroke the ball into its comforting arms.
But, Musona, somehow, clipped the ball with his right foot, and from close range, directed it against the crossbar.
It was an act so incredible it had to be seen, to be believed, had to be replayed on the television monitors to be confirmed as true, so close to fantasy, it took some minutes to believe this was reality.
“This miss has to go down as one of the worst of all-time,” journalist, Anthony Chapman, wrote in the UK tabloid, The Sun. “It occurred during an Africa Cup of Nations match between Zimbabwe and Uganda.
“Zimbabwe’s Knowledge Musona was played through, straight on goal, and had an empty net to fire in to. “But he scuffed his shot and, instead, smashed the ball against the cross bar in outrageous scenes.
“There have been some spectacular misses over the years, with Fernando Torres’ error in a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United in 2011 one which Chelsea fans struggle to erase from their minds.
“But, one of the most famous misses belongs to former Arsenal star Nwankwo Kanu, who fired over the target just a yard out from an empty goal while playing for West Brom in a 2-1 defeat by Middlesbrough in 2004.”
The AFP news agency also highlighted Musona’s miss as the heart of the story.
“Knowledge Musona’s incredible open-goal miss proved costly as a wasteful Zimbabwe were held to a 1-1 draw by Uganda at the Africa Cup of Nations on Wednesday,” the agency reported.
“Emmanuel Okwi pounced on a rebound to nudge Uganda ahead on 12 minutes in Cairo but Khama Billiat levelled for Zimbabwe with a glancing finish shortly before half-time.
“Zimbabwe, beaten 1-0 by Egypt in the opening game of the tournament, created a number of chances in response, with captain Musona ballooning over after Billiat’s cutback rolled invitingly into his path.
“Zimbabwe remarkably failed to grab the lead early in the second half when Musona, somehow, failed to put the ball into an empty net, spooning it against the crossbar, from just a couple yards out.”
Nick Cavell, analysing for BBC Sport, reported that “Zimbabwe dominated the second half and it was only because of an incredible miss from Knowledge Musona that they did not score to go 2-1 up,” while Yahoo Sport UK called it the “miss of the tournament.”
Qatar-based beINSports also discussed the Smiling Assassin’s miss.
“Knowledge Musona produced one of the Africa Cup of Nations’ all-time great misses as Zimbabwe’s hopes of progression were further dented in a 1-1 draw with Uganda,” they reported.
“Zimbabwe, beaten 1-0 by hosts Egypt in their opening match last week, missed their big opportunity to get a first win in this year’s competition as captain Musona, somehow, missed an open goal from four yards, the Anderlecht-owned striker only managing to pick out the crossbar despite having a completely unguarded net to aim for when the ball dropped into his path in front of goal.”
Online Reporter