Zimbabwe were left to regret the absence of striker Macauley Bonne, as they returned from their Africa Cup of Nations 2019 in disappointing fashion. The Warriors were hoping to field the Charlton Athletic striker at the tournament in order to improve their chances of a strong finish. Zimbabwe were expected to have a major impact as a result of the highly talented squad, which has been labelled as the Golden Generation for the country. However, the 23-year-old was unable to travel for the AFCON 2019, which would have been his first experience of the same, due to passport-related issues.
Bonne declared back in May that he was set to play for Zimbabwe at the AFCON 2019 and it started a huge amount of expectation from the Warriors supporters about the team’s chances of doing well at the tournament. The Charlton Athletic forward may have only recently made his debut for Zimbabwe, but he has a great reputation of scoring goals, an excellent information for those who use the betting bonus code. Despite being born in Ipswich, Bonne was capable of representing Zimbabwe due to his parents, who are from the African nation. Even though the 23-year-old had the opportunity to represent England, he chose to go with the Warriors.
Bonne featured in several youth setups for the national team and his senior debut came in 2017. He featured in the loss to Lesotho. The striker has spent most of his days in the lower levels of the English football league. After starting his career with Colchester United, he went on to represent the team for four campaigns – scoring 15 goals in 84 appearances. There were also loan spells to Lincoln City and Woking when Colchester had suffered a relegation.
A break for the youngster came when he made the switch to Leyton Orient at the start of the 2017-18 campaign. Even though he played in the National League, there was a substantial improvement in form. Bonne ended up scoring 45 goals in just 90 games for the London team and that earned him a move to Charlton Athletic for the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Bonne will now be playing at the Championship level for the first time in his career. It is a sign of his growth over the last few years. This goalscoring ability was one of the key factors behind Zimbabwe showing a lot of interest in ensuring that Bonne represented the Warriors and not England.
Zimbabwe returned from the AFCON with just one goal to their name. This was a dismal return compared to 2017 when the team managed to get four goals in the group matches. Even though Bonne did not get the opportunity to get introduced to the major African tournaments, there is a strong belief that he will be a vital part of the Zimbabwean national team over the next decade. The lack of top-class strikers in the Zimbabwe national team is a sore point that was highlighted at the tournament. Bonne is one of the few players who can finish off even half chances.
