We must not panic, we need to cool down first: Musona

By Langton Nyakwenda

Knowledge Musona is level-headed, has kept his personal life a closely guarded secret and rarely grants interviews.

The 26-year old forward’s talent does the talking for him with his top-notch goal against Tunisia last Monday night an exhibition of rare football intelligence.

However, as emotions run high after the Warriors first round exit from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the Belgium based striker has chosen to open up and his calm voice carries with it a message Zimbabwean football badly needs to hear.

A lot of questions about the Warriors’ future are being thrown around after the national team brought home a point and conceded eight times in three matches and Musona has a firm answer to all of them.

“We must not panic,” said the striker upon the team’s return from Gabon last Wednesday.

“Let us look to the future with hope because I am sure brighter days are coming.

“We need to cool down first and make a sober analysis, see where we made the mistakes and learn from there going forward.”

Musona has on numerous occasions carried the Warriors on his shoulders but a hamstring injury in the first 12th minute of the opener against Algeria forced him to play just 101 minutes out of a possible 270 minutes.

He missed the 0-2 defeat to Senegal in the second match but bounced back against Tunisia and scored a top drawer goal in a 2-4 losing cause.

“It is sad that I didn’t play all the matches because I was injured in the first match but overall I think we tried our best. The opponents were just too good for us,” the KV Oostende forward said.

The Afcon aftermath has already seen skipper Willard Katsande announcing his retirement from international football at the age of 31.

Katsande’s deputy Cuthbert Malajila will be 32 in October and the highly rated Czech Republic based defender Costa Nhamoinesu turned 31 on January 6, Onisimo Bhasera is also 31 while China based striker Nyasha Mushekwi turns 30 on August 21.

There have been suggestions that this clique needs to make way for a new breed of Warriors but Musona reads the situation differently.

“We might have players who some people may say are getting old and were playing probably their last Afcon but I think they still have a role to play in the squad especially as we look towards another qualifying campaign,” he said.

“If the team is kept intact I am sure we will do well in the near future. We must not panic, those performances in the qualifiers were a good sign that we are a team heading in the right direction.”

Musona has scored 17 goals for the Warriors since making his debut in an African Cup of Nations qualifier away to Liberia on September 5, 2010.

But the one against Tunisia last Monday will forever remain etched in his mind and the striker forced a smile on his rather somber face as he relived the magical moment.

“I got the ball from Mushekwi but it was a bit high and l had to control it with my chest. Quickly I realised that two Tunisian guys were fast approaching intending to block my path and instinctively I took a slight touch between them. I lifted my head and fired home.”

Is this his best Warriors goal?

“Wow, probably because I scored this one on the biggest stage of African football. I have forgotten some of the goals that I have scored for the Warriors but to score at the Nations Cup finals is special. So I guess this is one of the best goals I have scored for my country.”