Online Reporter
Innocent Kurira
Zimpapers Sports Hub
PATRICK Mandizha did not need a statistics sheet to explain what frustrated him most at Barbourfields on Monday.
He had just watched his Manica Diamonds side create enough chances to beat Bulawayo Chiefs, yet walk away with only a point after another afternoon of wasteful finishing.
For the Manica Diamonds coach, the problem goes beyond one match, one team or even one season.
He believes Zimbabwean football is running short of genuine strikers, and he says the roots of that problem can be traced back to the gradual collapse of junior football structures that once produced natural goalscorers.
“We created more chances than Chiefs but we could not convert them,” said Mandizha after the goalless Castle Lager Premier Soccer League draw.
“I think it is a problem that we have as a country. We no longer have good strikers.”
It is a statement likely to stir debate across the local game.
Week after week, coaches lament missed chances. Across the league, matches are increasingly being decided by fine margins, with several teams struggling to turn dominance into goals.
Mandizha believes the answer lies far from the PSL.
The former midfielder says Zimbabwe has abandoned the junior football culture that once sharpened young players long before they reached the senior game.
“I think we should introduce more football at junior level. During our time we used to have competition even at junior level and I think that culture has been abandoned,” he said.
His concerns mirror a growing conversation within local football circles.
There was a time when school competitions, community tournaments and organised junior leagues produced a steady stream of attacking talent. Young forwards played regularly, learned their craft under pressure and developed the instincts that separate goalscorers from ordinary players.
Today, many coaches argue those pathways are no longer as strong or as consistent.
The result is that players often arrive in senior football still learning aspects of the game that should have been mastered years earlier.
For strikers, that development gap can be particularly costly.
Goalscoring is built on repetition, confidence and decision-making under pressure.
Those qualities are usually developed over years of competitive football, not after a player reaches the top flight.
Monday’s draw offered a reminder of the challenge.
Manica Diamonds enjoyed the better attacking moments and looked the more likely side to score, but poor finishing ensured they left Bulawayo with only a point.
While disappointed by the result, Mandizha appeared more concerned about the bigger picture.
His message was simple. If Zimbabwe wants better strikers tomorrow, it must invest in young footballers today.
“I think we as a country can do better in terms of improving our junior football,” he said.
