Playing Musona wide is wild!

PLAYING Knowledge Musona wide was a wild call by Warriors coach Kallisto Pasuwa. Pasuwa would have been hailed as a technical genius if playing Musona out of position had resulted in victory in that Group L Africa Cup of Nations clash against Guinea.

Imagine if Musona’s goal had turned out to be the winner; or if his second-half free-kick, which looked set to sneak in just inside the right upright, was not parried away by Nabby Yattara in Guinea’s goal?

Many would have drawn parallels with Jose Mourinho’s decision to play Samuel Eto’o on the flanks as Inter Milan threw spanners into Barcelona’s tiki-taka in a 2010 UEFA Champions League duel.

One cannot say that the move to play Musona wide did not work – but neither can they say it worked. It was an “iffy” affair.

Unlike a natural winger, Musona was more direct. He never headed for the byline and always sought to cut inside.

That was a positive.

But the negatives are many.

As the forward got into the box facing the goal from an acute angle, and with his left foot not his most dangerous weapon, he tried to beat Yattara at the near post.

Thrice he tried, and thrice he failed: one shot going over and the other two neatly collected.

On all occasions a cut back to Nyasha Mushekwi looked the best option. But that is what you get when you ask a striker to play the role of creator – their first instinct is to rifle towards goal.

There is also an element of selfishness inherent in all good strikers.

Musona is one.

Playing wide also required Musona to track back and aid Partson Jaure in defending the right channel and that is something the striker was unable to do on several occasions.

Its telling that the goal Musona scored came when he dashed through the centre and coolly slotted home.

Players will claim to be happy “to play wherever the coach asks me to play”, but that is usually just politically correct talk.

If Musona is our best striker, why play him wide? The box is his natural habitat, the place where he feels freest and most predatory.

Warriors assistant coach Saul Chaminuka defended their decision.

“Knowledge is an attacker who can operate anywhere upfront; he is a striker who can play central attack, left or right. When you have a player like him in your team you are blessed,” he said.

“If you look at Nyasha Mushekwi, he is strong, he makes those short runs and he is always in the box when we are attacking.

“Cuthbert is a centre striker, he can also play behind but the good thing about him is that he is also a box player.

He is linkman cum striker who is always in the box.

“So with Musona coming from wide, and those two, we have more firepower when attacking. If we can have the same squad we had against Guinea, then you will see a lot of improvement because there are some things we learnt from that game.”

Your call, coach.