Dzukamanja impresses Yesteryear greats believe he can score 20+ goals
YESTERYEAR greats believe Ngezi Platinum Stars winger Terrence Dzukamanja can surpass the 20-goal mark at the end of the season if he maintains his form.
Dzukamanja leads the scorers’ chart with eight goals from 14 games.
Former Warriors’ frontmen Alois Bunjira, Agent Sawu and Zenzo Moyo are impressed with Dzukamanja’s conversion rate which averages a goal in every two games.
His goal scoring form has also been rewarded with a late call-up to the national team for the Cosafa Cup in South Africa.
Bunjira, who won the 1996 Top Goal Scorer award with 23 goals, challenged Dzukamanja to set himself a personal target of at least 10 goals from the remaining 20 games.
“To be honest, this season has been exciting compared to previous ones. We still have the same problems of strikers not being sharp, but I’m excited with Dzukamanja’s scoring ratio of at least a goal in two games. Remember he is not an outright striker and coming from the wing to score crucial goals and lead the chart is impressive,” said Bunjira.
“It is my wish to see more strikers scoring. It’s also good to see Caps United’s John Zhuwawu finding his feet and now he has scored about three goals in the last four games. I hope he maintains that.
“What I’m not happy with is to set a target of 15 goals for Dzukamanja. I believe players should challenge themselves and set personal targets higher than what their coaches have for personal growth. With 20 games to go, not only Dzukamanja, but all the strikers should aim higher and try to score at least 10 goals,” said Bunjira.
The former national team striker feels strikers should do extra work and perfect their skills.
“It’s not easy to score; one needs to put more work. I was impressed with Tinotenda Kadewere’s comment after scoring four goals at the weekend. He said it was a reflection of the amount of work he was putting in. Strikers need to do individual training and refine their techniques to be perfect,” Bunjira said.
Former national team hitman Agent Sawu also praised Dzukamanja, but feels the country is still lagging behind in terms of striker development.
“There are still challenges in terms of finding goal poachers. However, there is some light and I think players like Dzukamanja, who has a good conversion rate, deserve encouragement,” he said.
“Personally, I feel tactics have changed, teams are approaching games with caution and opt to be defensive, making it difficult for strikers. What strikers need to do is to invest in working on their finishing.”
Sawu noted that these days strikers played with their backs to the goal and were being outnumbered by defenders.
“If the transition from defence to attack is slow, strikers will find it difficult to play and score. They (strikers) are always outnumbered,” he said.
Former Soccer Star of the Year, Zenzo Moyo, who also won the top scorer’s gong in 2002 after banging in 21 goals, said administrators are also to blame for lack of potent strikers by putting coaches under pressure.
“We don’t have strikers. I always say strikers are not made, but they are born. Strikers’ problems can be traced back to our juniors. Coaches at junior level have gone more technical and are under pressure for results such that the juniors are now more tactical. It’s rare to see a juniors’ coach encouraging a youngster to dribble and express himself; they want one touch football,” said Moyo.
“There’s a need to revisit the development system and I think it is us administrators who are to blame because we put so much pressure on junior coaches. The job of a juniors’ coach is to develop talent and not stifle it by being more tactical. To get top notch strikers that can dribble starts with us encouraging the juniors to freely express themselves,” said Moyo.