adminforward eager to make an impact at German Bundesliga outfit TSG Hoffenheim by the halfway mark of the 2011-12 season.
Musona joined Hoffenheim from South African Premiership giants Kaizer Chiefs at the end of July.
The 21-year-old had the misfortune of suffering a hamstring injury during his first full training with the German club with the injury meaning he had a three-week delay to the start of his life in the Bundesliga.
Musona’s injury also meant that he missed the Warriors’ penultimate 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia at the National Sports Stadium on September 4.
But the striker has since fully recovered and led his national team’s attack, scoring in the 2-1 losing cause to Cape Verde in Praia last weekend.
He has also made three substitute appearances while he sat on the bench for the entire game when he was first named in the Hoffenheim team that has been doing Bundesliga duties for the club.
Before the international break last week, Hoffenheim, who have got off to a promising start, were in eighth place on the log standings and six points behind leaders Bayern Munich.
The Warriors forward also came on as a late substitute in the last 25 minutes of their brave 0-0 draw against giants Bayern Munich.
Musona, however, feels fully recovered and has set himself tough benchmarks to break into the Hoffenheim starting team by the time the league reaches its halfway stage.
In his debut season in the South African Premiership Musona had to be content with coming off the bench and playing cameo roles for Chiefs during which he scored 10 goals.
It was only in his second season that he became the Chiefs talisman and endeared himself to the Amakhosi crowd and won the Absa Premiership’s Golden Boot award.
The Smiling Assassin said although he was happy with the way he had started life in the Bundesliga, he wanted to settle down in Europe “much faster than I did in South Africa”.
“I have fully recovered from the injury that I suffered soon after arriving in Germany. In the first game I was on the bench for 90 minutes. For the last three games that we played I came in from the bench mostly in the last 25 minutes.
“I know that it’s not enough but I am not panicking yet because this is my first year in Europe.
“I did the same in South Africa where for the whole of my first season I was a substitute but became a regular at Kaizer Chiefs the following season”.
Musona said although he was aware that the Bundesliga was a much tougher proposition than the Super Diski, he would still want to do better than the kind of start he had in South Africa. I want to work extra hard so that I play regularly in the Bundesliga . . . my confidence is growing with each game and I am looking forward to more game time.
“I don’t want to spend the whole season to settle down, I have set myself a target to be a regular by the time we reach the halfway stage of this season,” Musona said.
Musona also took time to compare life in the fast lane of the Bundesliga to that of the Super Diski where he reigned supreme and noted that there are virtually “no small teams in Germany”.
“In the Bundesliga each and every team is strong in its own ways and the stadiums are always fully packed.
“You cannot underrate any team and any team can win and it is always tough especially in the away games. German football is fast and tough, yes in South Africa it’s also fast but not faster.
“In Germany the game is also more tactical and we train according to the type pf opponents that we will be facing for example before the Bayern game we spent the whole week doing a lot of pressing and working on how to suppress such players like Ribbery (Frank) and I think it worked in the end because we drew 0-0 with them.
“Although technique is natural you have to perfect it in training all the time.
“In South Africa, Chiefs had supporters everywhere in the country where we played but in Germany you really feel that you are away from home. Even Bayern Munich are made to really feel that they are the away team when they travel and are restricted to a limited number of travelling fans,” Musona said.
His stay at Hoffenheim, Musona also said, had also been helped a lot by the warm reception he has received from the club’s fans.
“I am happy that I have been warmly received by the home fans and I think they liked what they saw in my first game and I am looking forward to impressing them”.
Musona said although he still followed Chiefs’ progress, he dismissed the notion that Amakhosi would struggle to adjust to life without him.
“I still follow Kaizer Chiefs football a lot and I always talk to Thomas (Sweswe) and I also check on them on the internet and noted that they lost their last game to Golden Arrows but I think they have had a good
start to the season. I think they have the quality to gun for the championship title and I don’t think they can be stopped this time around.
I also think that they have adjusted to life without me now because they have been winning games.
“Yes I was the top goalscorer but it’s wrong for people to think Chiefs will struggle without Musona, they have experienced players from the back to front and guys like Bernard Parker will do well”.
Musona said he was also hopeful that Zifa would try to help more local coaches to secure attachments or training stints in such leagues like the Bundesliga “if our game is to keep improving”
Sidumisile Mabena