adminAlois Bunjira FOUR goalless draws in a day?
I thought someone was joking last Saturday when they texted me saying that all the day’s matches – Caps United v FC Platinum, Chicken Inn v Chapungu, Bulawayo City v Hwange and ZPC Kariba v Ngezi Platinum Stars – had failed to produce a single goal between them. Clearly we have a serious lack of goals in this country and this problem has been with us for a good few years now.
Our strikers are even battling to reach the 15-goal mark when back in the day this used to be the minimum acceptable standard.
We are more than half way through the season now but our top scorer is yet to reach 10 goals and the guy – Bruce Kangwa – is not even a striker but a defender who was turned into a midfielder.
On Wednesday last week this paper’s Sports Editor Makomborero Mutimukulu called me and asked a question I have been asked a lot these past couple of weeks.
“Alois, why are we not seeing the goals, mate?” he asked.
And just as I was about to unleash my opinion Mako Gold interjected and said: “I am not the only one who needs to hear your opinion, please do an opinion piece for us.”
So here we are!
Yesteryear strikers used to bang in over 20 goals a season; I remember Moses Chunga once banged in 46 while both Adam Ndlovu and Zenzo Moyo once reached 30. Maronga Nyangela, Shacky Tauro, Wilfred Mugeyi, Claudius Zviripayi, Vitalis Takawira etc would bang in over 20 goals a season easily.
Back in 1996 I battled it out with Makwinji Soma-Phiri for the top goal-scorer award and what a battle it was.
The Dynamos striker ended the season on 25 goals and I was on 24 but I had played only 19 games for Caps United that season.
The following season I fought it out with Walter Tshuma and I beat him to the award with 25 goals against his 24.
For two years in a row, we had two strikers scoring over 23 goals. In fact in 1996, Morgan Nkhatazo was on 20 goals, Joe Mugabe on 18, Stewart Murisa on 17 and Tauya Murehwa on 18. Goals were flowing.
So what has gone wrong now?
In my opinion the biggest problem with this current generation of players is the lack of proper technique development coupled with a lack of hunger.
I have watched a lot of games in recent years and always get worried about the level of technique. This is a generation that didn’t see much junior football.
In generations past we used to have strong junior policies and several junior coaches come to mind once one thinks of those good old days.
I remember there were Dhidhi and Bla David George at Dynamos, there was Alois Patsika at CAPS United and Lloyd Chigowa was at Cone Textiles. At Darryn T we had Never Gombera while Blackie Chirova, William Chikauro and Lovemore Chikunha were at Black Rhinos. There was also this other wily coach at Circle United while in Bulawayo the popular coach was Ali Baba Dube.
All these coaches helped in talent development.
At Darryn T we were very lucky to have Wieslaw Grabowski who handled us on graduation.
Technique was of paramount importance when we were growing up and one never made it into the first team without showing that his technique was ripe and ready.Serious lack of technique is evident in our league; the glaring chances that these boys miss speak to the lack of technique.
The other major problem is the lack of hunger in our boys, evidently they don’t train as much as we used to.
The coming in of social media has robbed the players of training time. These players are eager to have training done with so that they can spend more time on social media sites, chatting up girls and following the latest football gossip.
I have observed that very few players come for extra training, and no one stays on much longer after the coach has blown to end the day’s session.
For me this is a serious cause for concern. A player cannot reach dizzy heights without extra effort or extra dedication. Talent alone is not enough.
Precision comes with practice – a lot of practice.
If a striker wants to score a lot of goals, the striker needs to work on all aspects of scoring. One cannot expect to score many goals if they have a bad first touch.
One cannot score many goals when they lack speed, they cannot score many if they are weak at headers, and they cannot expect to hit the back of the net when they lack shooting and curling technique.
A striker cannot score many goals if they cannot dribble. You cannot score many goals if you cannot make good runs, create space for yourself in the box and have good timing.
You cannot score a lot of goals if you are not a fox in the box. You cannot score many goals if you rely solely on one leg.
All these things I have mentioned come naturally but are sharpened on the training ground.
It is up to the player to give himself the extra training to sharpen these skills. Many players today don’t do that. This is not an attack on the current players; neither is it bragging about yesteryear players. I am merely stating my opinion and observations.The other aspect is that the current crop of players don’t take seriously their combinations with other players. They don’t take time to study their teammates’ weaknesses and strengths.
During my playing days I knew that Morgan Nkhatazo would take out one player before sending in a cross. I knew where most of Morgan’s crosses landed and my first movement was always to take defenders away from those areas.
Then as Morgan was about to cross I would dash back into those dangerous areas and the results were usually fatal.
I also knew when Stewart Murisa was trying to dribble or when he was going to send in a cross because I took time to study his game.
I knew Lloyd Chitembwe loved the long ball behind the defence so as soon as I saw him settle on the ball I went on a run behind the defence.
I scored many goals during my era and it was all down to combinations!
Remember Vitalis Takawira and Tauya Murehwa, Alois Bunjira and Stewart Murisa, Stanley Mashezha and Percy Mwase, Zenzo Moyo and Thabani Masawi, Moses and Kembo Chunga, Leonard Tsipa and Brian Badza?
When strikers work in combination, they help each other to score more goals.
I know my opinions may have touched some nerves but the challenge is on the current crop of players to prove me wrong. Let them shut me up by banging in the goals.
Over and above the prize money they get for clinching the top goal-scorer award, I am offering a full football kit from Umbro to any striker who scores more than 15 goals this season.
Alois Bunjira is a former Zimbabwe senior men’s national soccer team striker who made his name locally and in South Africa, and had stints in Poland and Slovakia. He is the Caps United board member for marketing and also works as a radio pundit
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