FC PLATINUM coach Norman Mapeza has bemoaned the lack of lethal strikers in the domestic premiership, saying the shortage of goals is a problem not only unique to his Zvishavane-based outfit but common to all local topflight clubs.
BY MUKUDZEI CHINGWERE/DANIEL NHAKANISO
Speaking during a press briefing in Zvishavane yesterday ahead of his team’s home match against Hwange at Maglas this afternoon, Mapeza said it was a fact that most, if not all, local clubs were struggling in front of goal.
Mapeza had been asked to comment on his side’s shortcomings upfront in their first five matches of the season despite having in their ranks former Hwange forward Gift Mbweti, who was one of the leading scorers last season.
“Gift Mbweti wasn’t even playing as a central striker [last season], he was playing as a number 10, so it’s not only FC Platinum who are struggling to score in the domestic premiership, all the 18 clubs in this country are struggling to score goals,” Mapeza said.
“I think [before this weekend] the highest number of goals scored in a match was during the match between Bantu Rovers and Chicken Inn, then CAPS United against Chapungu while we also scored three goals against Bantu.
“But most of the other matches have been won by one-nil scorelines so it’s not only us who are having a crisis of goals not coming but I think all the clubs in the country are having that crisis as well,” he said.
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League has in recent years witnessed an acute shortage of goals, with veteran CAPS United forward Leonard Tsipa’s 11 goals earning him the Golden Boot and the first runner-up for the Castle Lager Soccer Star of the Year award last season.
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In fact, the domestic premiership’s goal scorers have in recent years consistently failed to reach the 20-goal mark in 30 matches, with Roderick Mutuma hitting a low 14 goals when he won the Golden Boot in 2011.
And, when pressed on finding solutions to what seems like Zimbabwean football’s constant nemesis, Mapeza opened up, suggesting that rectifying the problem was out of his hands.
“For goal scorers, sometimes it’s something which you’re born with,” he said. “We can help someone in terms of their movement but you need to have those predatory instincts to know where to position yourself. But if someone doesn’t have that, it will take time for us to help him to understand.
“That sense of anticipation is something which was common in our yesteryear strikers. The anticipation to know where he’s supposed to be at that particular time, if someone has that then we won’t have a problem. So basically, this problem is not only at FC Platinum but all over the country,” he said.
Mapeza is set to take charge of the Warriors’ 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign opener against Liberia at the National Sports Stadium on June 11, as exclusively revealed by Standardsport last month.
Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa told Standardsport last month that his association did not have the money to appoint a substantive national team coach at the moment and would continue engaging Mapeza on a caretaker basis.
While FC Platinum appear to have given Mapeza the greenlight to double as the Warriors coach, the 45-year-old gaffer revealed that he would only speak on the Warriors when he shifts his attention to the June qualifier. His immediate focus is on his club.
“For now, I can’t comment on that [the Warriors coaching post]. My mind is solely on tomorrow’s game. I can only talk about the national team when there is a week or so for me to go there, but at the moment my focus is on FC Platinum,” Mapeza said.
