Sports / Soccer
Musona magic
12 Jun 2017 at 07:29hrs | Views
KNOWLEDGE MUSONA became the first Warriors captain to score an AFCON hat-trick - and the first Zimbabwean footballer to do so in 22 years - with a breathtaking individual performance rich in both purity and leadership at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
The Belgium-based forward could even have scored half-a-dozen goals on an afternoon when he twice had the misfortune of sending the ball into a romantic flirtation with the crossbar, either side of the interval, as the Warriors started their 2019 Nations Cup adventure in style.
Given the leadership role of the team for the first time in a side that underwent a lot of surgery after the gloom of a largely lifeless performance at the AFCON finals in Gabon, Musona responded in the best way possible by scoring all the three goals against Liberia.
It means Musona has now scored in the last four Warriors games he has lasted the distance after being on target in matches against Swaziland, Malawi and Tunisia.
He has now scored six goals in those games, in a remarkable return that probably compares with the very best of the marksmen in world football right now when it comes to national duty.
The KV Oostende striker converted penalties against Swaziland and Malawi and scored a beauty against Tunisia, in a match he played while barely fit, and the hat-trick yesterday against the Lone Star that sent the Warriors top of the group.
Not since Vitalis Takawira scored three goals in a four-goal demolition of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in January 1995 in a 1996 AFCON qualifier has a Zimbabwean forward grabbed a hat-trick in a Nations Cup qualifier.
"The boy is very, very special, no doubt about that and every time he comes in carrying a lot of pressure and every time he delivers," former Shooting Stars chairman Lewis Matindife told The Herald yesterday.
"Today he showed why he is the best Zimbabwean footballer that we have right now, by a distance, and the composure with which he took his goals was incredible.
"I remember reading an article in your newspaper (The Herald) recently saying that he is a jewel whose value we haven't really appreciated as a nation and after today's performance very few can question that.
"The good thing about this boy is he remains grounded and for me the great moment came when Tendai Ndoro was pulled out and he went to him and comforted him.
"That is leadership because he showed that even though Ndoro was struggling a bit he still appreciated that he was a part of the team and that is what you want in a captain."
A placard carried by a fan at the giant stadium yesterday was inscribed "Give Musona A Car."
It was probably directed at ZIFA benefactor Wicknell Chivayo who was part of the fans in the VVIP Enclosure and celebrated every goal the team, or rather Musona scored, with delirium.
Chivayo will probably say that it's the reason he hand-picked the forward for a shopping trip to Paris where he spoiled him and Costa Nhamoinesu with expensive Gucci gifts.
With Khama Billiat unavailable because of injury, Musona knew he carried a huge burden yesterday not only to get the goals, but also to provide leadership in a new era when the man barking instructions wasn't Callisto Pasuwa, but Norman Mapeza.
There is a telepathic relationship between Mapeza and Musona because this was the coach who gave him his first AFCON start against Liberia in Monrovia seven years ago and the forward replied with a goal in a 1-1 draw.
Musona was also the player who last scored for the Warriors when Mapeza was in charge of the team in that 1-2 defeat in Cape Verde.
And yesterday, on their reunion on the big stage, Musona was again on target for his coach — not once, not twice, but three times.
It can't get better than that.
Of course it could have.
Twice he was denied by the crossbar either side of half-time, first curling a beauty that crashed against the crossbar from a free-kick and then having the presence of mind to try an audacious curl in the second half that met the same fate.
"He is a gem, no doubt about that, and he is getting better and better," said Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association chief of protocol Fortune "Giant" Bgwoni.
"Today he showed us why we believe in him so much and the whole country is happy and that is all we want from our boys.
"We are lucky to have a player like Knowledge in our ranks and even Peter Ndlovu would have saluted him today."
The Warriors have now turned the National Sports Stadium into a fortress and in their last three AFCON qualifiers they have now scored 10 goals.
Musona has scored half those goals.
And, if there is someone who probably celebrated this goal feast wildly, it's prophet Walter Magaya who revealed he was under pressure ahead of this game because, in the event the Warriors didn't win yesterday, his critics — forever looking for a window to open to unleash their venom — would have feasted on him.
He was the first to notice the difference in the Warriors body language in camp when the Smiling Assassin arrived last week for camp at his luxurious hotel.
Yes, for Musona, with time, we have seen a lot of Knowledge.
The Belgium-based forward could even have scored half-a-dozen goals on an afternoon when he twice had the misfortune of sending the ball into a romantic flirtation with the crossbar, either side of the interval, as the Warriors started their 2019 Nations Cup adventure in style.
Given the leadership role of the team for the first time in a side that underwent a lot of surgery after the gloom of a largely lifeless performance at the AFCON finals in Gabon, Musona responded in the best way possible by scoring all the three goals against Liberia.
It means Musona has now scored in the last four Warriors games he has lasted the distance after being on target in matches against Swaziland, Malawi and Tunisia.
He has now scored six goals in those games, in a remarkable return that probably compares with the very best of the marksmen in world football right now when it comes to national duty.
The KV Oostende striker converted penalties against Swaziland and Malawi and scored a beauty against Tunisia, in a match he played while barely fit, and the hat-trick yesterday against the Lone Star that sent the Warriors top of the group.
Not since Vitalis Takawira scored three goals in a four-goal demolition of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in January 1995 in a 1996 AFCON qualifier has a Zimbabwean forward grabbed a hat-trick in a Nations Cup qualifier.
"The boy is very, very special, no doubt about that and every time he comes in carrying a lot of pressure and every time he delivers," former Shooting Stars chairman Lewis Matindife told The Herald yesterday.
"Today he showed why he is the best Zimbabwean footballer that we have right now, by a distance, and the composure with which he took his goals was incredible.
"I remember reading an article in your newspaper (The Herald) recently saying that he is a jewel whose value we haven't really appreciated as a nation and after today's performance very few can question that.
"The good thing about this boy is he remains grounded and for me the great moment came when Tendai Ndoro was pulled out and he went to him and comforted him.
"That is leadership because he showed that even though Ndoro was struggling a bit he still appreciated that he was a part of the team and that is what you want in a captain."
A placard carried by a fan at the giant stadium yesterday was inscribed "Give Musona A Car."
It was probably directed at ZIFA benefactor Wicknell Chivayo who was part of the fans in the VVIP Enclosure and celebrated every goal the team, or rather Musona scored, with delirium.
Chivayo will probably say that it's the reason he hand-picked the forward for a shopping trip to Paris where he spoiled him and Costa Nhamoinesu with expensive Gucci gifts.
There is a telepathic relationship between Mapeza and Musona because this was the coach who gave him his first AFCON start against Liberia in Monrovia seven years ago and the forward replied with a goal in a 1-1 draw.
Musona was also the player who last scored for the Warriors when Mapeza was in charge of the team in that 1-2 defeat in Cape Verde.
And yesterday, on their reunion on the big stage, Musona was again on target for his coach — not once, not twice, but three times.
It can't get better than that.
Of course it could have.
Twice he was denied by the crossbar either side of half-time, first curling a beauty that crashed against the crossbar from a free-kick and then having the presence of mind to try an audacious curl in the second half that met the same fate.
"He is a gem, no doubt about that, and he is getting better and better," said Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association chief of protocol Fortune "Giant" Bgwoni.
"Today he showed us why we believe in him so much and the whole country is happy and that is all we want from our boys.
"We are lucky to have a player like Knowledge in our ranks and even Peter Ndlovu would have saluted him today."
The Warriors have now turned the National Sports Stadium into a fortress and in their last three AFCON qualifiers they have now scored 10 goals.
Musona has scored half those goals.
And, if there is someone who probably celebrated this goal feast wildly, it's prophet Walter Magaya who revealed he was under pressure ahead of this game because, in the event the Warriors didn't win yesterday, his critics — forever looking for a window to open to unleash their venom — would have feasted on him.
He was the first to notice the difference in the Warriors body language in camp when the Smiling Assassin arrived last week for camp at his luxurious hotel.
Yes, for Musona, with time, we have seen a lot of Knowledge.
Source - the herald
