No threat to Chunga’s 46-goal record
By Petros Kausiyo
In an era when prolific scorers have been hard to come by in the domestic top-flight, there appears to be no end in sight to Warriors and Dynamos legend Moses Chunga’s landmark feat of 46 goals in a season that is yet to be matched by any player in post independent Zimbabwe since 1986.
That impressive goal-scoring record in the year that Chunga was also crowned the Soccer Star of the Year was characterised by 10 double strikes and three hat-tricks while the pair of Mercedes Sibanda and Boy Ndlovu were the runners-up on that Soccer Stars podium.
Three decades on, that remarkable goal-scoring record is far from coming under threat if the striking rate being witnessed in the top-flight is anything to go by.
The leading scorer in the Premiership Bukhosi Sibanda of Bantu Rovers yet to reach the 15-goal mark after 19 rounds of matches has since gone to South Africa.
In fact not since Norman Maroto, himself a Chunga prodigy at the now defunct Gunners in 2010, has any of the local Golden Boot award winners surpassed the 20-goal mark.
“It always feel great to know you have a record somewhere that is still intact, but I also see this challenge to us as coaches,” said Chunga.
“And this is why I agreed to go to development because we have to teach the mind and players also need to know that they are as good as they train.
“In the last five or so years our strikers cannot reach 15 goals and it is something that worries me and I think we ought to sit down and question this as a nation and find solutions.
“Before I reached 46 goals, I was third top scorer with 19 goals. I then improved the following season and I was the second highest with 22 goals and due to extra work and more concentration on my game I scored 46 goals the following year.
“So you can also see that there is an element of continuity and progression and this comes with determination when you say to yourself I want to do better this year than last year, you put in extra hours either by going to training earlier before it officially starts or staying behind after the session to work on some areas.
“We used to stay behind and to practice on areas like dead ball situations, the spin, balance and speed of the ball, which must all come together at the same time in order for you to take some great free-kicks.
“You also need good friends around you and the family’s support for you to succeed.
“But I had not realised that it has been this long since those days when I was the country’s top scorer.”
Chunga played in an era when there were lethal strikers such as Shacky Tauro, Maronga Nyangela, Jerry Chidawa, Max Makanza, Jonah Murehwa and Tobias Mudyambanje.
There was also a generation of forwards that included Agent Sawu, Wilfred Mugeyi, Adam Ndlovu, Vitalis Takawira, Peter Ndlovu and Alois Bunjira, who made it a habit to score more than 20 goals in a season and Chunga believes that the revival of the national Under-17 side is one giant step towards unearthing prolific scorers.
“It feels great to spearhead the recovery of our junior policy.
“For the past five years to seven years our Under-17 team had not played football and we were non-existent on the international map.
“But now you can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are looking at having five provincial coaches per province who will help with identifying the talent, but the number can always increase as finances improve.
“The trainers that we have must not tell the kids that football is difficult when it is simple. Let’s simplify football and let’s help the young players to express themselves and to explore their special individual talents.
“The idea now is to have inter-provincial tournaments where the teams can compete which will be a basis for getting the best of that talent and also capturing the database of the players that we have around the country and for it to work it needs continuity and it must not just end with the Under-17 group, but also do the same for Under-20 and it is something I will recommend to the authorities.”
Chunga said the country should not lose focus.
“While I am responsible for the results and take full responsibility for them I don’t think we should lose sight of the objectives we have of building our national teams from Young Warriors squads and the process of development will involve a lot of travelling around the country and putting the right personnel in place.
“When I accepted to be Under-17 coach I knew what was ahead of me and I will work very hard with my colleagues to ensure we put in place structures for development which our country badly needs,” Chunga said. The Herald
