CHAMPS WHO CANT SCORE
Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor—
CRITICS of the domestic Premiership, who claim that the top-flight league has lost the glitter of its golden past, will certainly get more ammunition after champions Chicken Inn failed to score more goals, this season, than Moses Chunga’s post-independence record tally in 1986. But the Gamecocks are not alone. It’s the SEVENTH time, in the past 10 years, that the champions of the domestic Premiership have failed to score more goals than Chunga’s record-breaking tally of 46 goals, 29 years ago, when the Zimbabwe football legend destroyed defences in a landmark season for him.
That an entire team, good enough to be crowned champions of this country, fails to score more goals than just one individual, will certainly be used, by those who say that our top-flight league is losing its glitter, to justify their claims.
And that only one team, during the 2015 Castle Lager Premiership campaign, FC Platinum, scored more goals than Chunga did, when he set the benchmark in 1986, is embarrassing for a league that should represent excellence on the domestic football scene.
WhaWha and Dongo, who were relegated at the end of the season, scored a combined 35 goals and that means that the more than 30 players they used this season failed, together, to score more goals than those that Chunga scored, on his own, 29 years ago.
In fact, WhaWha (17 goals in 30 matches) and Dongo (18 goals in 30 matches) scored a combined 35 goals this season and that is 11 goals shy of the number of goals that Chunga scored in that landmark season when he was leading the Dynamos attack as a mere 21-year-old.
Buffaloes and Tsholotsho scored a combined 44 goals and that, too, falls short of the 46 goals that the former Zimbabwe skipper scored in 1986.
CAPS United, who scored 79 goals en-route to winning the league championship in 2004, scored only 29 goals this season, with seven of those goals coming in their last three matches (three against How Mine, three against WhaWha and one against FC Platinum.
The former Cup Kings, who have been a resurgent force under the guidance of Lloyd Chitembwe and take on league champions Chicken Inn in a semi-final showdown at Barbourfields this weekend, scored 17 fewer goals, this season, than Chunga did in 1986.
Their bitter rivals Dynamos, who won four straight league titles before they were dethroned by Chicken Inn this season, scored 36 goals in the league this year, 10 short of Chunga’s record haul 29 years ago, when the man they now call Bambo was leading their star-studded attack.
Incredibly, DeMbare’s 36 league goals this season was an improvement given that the Glamour Boys scored 34 goals in the league championship race last year, on their way to winning a fourth straight crown and matching the achievements of the Dynamos Class of 1980-1983 which also won four straight league titles.
Highlanders, the only other team to win four straight league titles on the domestic front when they began ruling the scene at the turn of the millennium, have not been saints either, scoring just 37 goals this season, nine short of the number of goals that Chunga scored, on his own, back in 1986.
Bosso even provided the Golden Boot winner, with Knox Mtizwa scoring 14 goals this season, which means that the rest of his teammates only contributed 23 goals all season in the championship race.
Triangle, a team that began with a bang this season as they destroyed opponents at will, before fading in the championship race, ended their campaign with 46 goals, matching the number of goals that Chunga scored during the 1986 season.
Exactly half the number of teams in the domestic Premiership this season scored fewer goals than the number of games that they played. Last year, no team even managed to score more goals than Chunga’s record personal haul, in 1986, with only ZPC Kariba, who finished second in the race after losing their final game of the season to CAPS United, the only club to score more than 40 goals.
Only four times, in the past 10 years, have the champions of this country scored more goals than Chunga did way back in 1986. Dynamos scored 58 goals on their way to winning the league title in 2012, Motor Action scored 52 goals in 2010, Gunners scored 47 goals in 2009, and that is just one goal more than Chunga’s tally, while Highlanders scored 56 goals in 2006.
And Chunga doesn’t even hold the record for the number of goals an individual has scored in the domestic Premiership. Back in 1971, the later Peter ‘Thunderboots” Nyama scored 62 goals. Today, even the champions of our top-flight league can’t score more than 46 goals.
“Times have changed, of course, but let’s not forget that it’s the goals that the people want to see in football, a game without goals is dull and it does not appeal to the supporters,” Chunga told The Herald.
“It’s an area that our football needs to work on, not only in the Premier League or Division One leagues but even our national teams because we have been failing to get goals and that is a concern.”
Year, Team And Number Of Goals Scored
2015
Chicken Inn 45
Dynamos 36
FC Platinum 52
Triangle 46
CAPS United 29
Highlanders 37
Harare City 29
Hwange 32
Chapungu 26
ZPC Kariba 40
How Mine 28
Tsholotsho 20
Buffaloes 23
Flame Lily 24
Whawha 17
Dongo 18
2014
Dynamos 34
ZPC Kariba 42
CAPS United 38
FC Platinum 34
Highlanders 38
Chicken Inn 31
Hwange 38
How Mine 33
Triangle 37
Buffaloes 33
Harare City 40
Chapungu 30
——————————————–
Black Rhinos 21
Shabanie Mine 33
Bantu Rovers 28
Chiredzi FC 16
2013
Dynamos 43
Highlanders 45
Harare City 43
FC Platinum 40
CAPS United 42
Chicken Inn 41
How Mine 28
Triangle 43
Hwange 36
Black Rhinos 33
Shabanie Mine 33
Buffaloes 40
——————————————–
Black Mambas 34
Monomotapa 25
Motor Action 17
Triple B 27
2012
Dynamos 58
Highlanders 49
Chicken Inn 39
Monomotapa United 42
Shabanie Mine 35
Buffaloes 25
FC Platinum 40
Motor Action 35
Harare City 24
CAPS United 28
Hwange 49
Black Mambas 34
——————————————
Gunners 27
Blue Rangers 30
Hardbody 26
Quelaton 15
2011
Dynamos 42
FC Platinum 44
Motor Action 33
Hwange 31
Gunners 37
CAPS United 44
Highlanders 27
Chicken Inn 32
Blue Rangers 32
Monomotapa 27
Black Mambas 34
Shabanie Mine 30
——————————————–
Masvingo United 31
Zimbabwe Saints 23
Shooting Stars 28
Kiglon Bird 23
2010
Motor Action 52
Dynamos 43
Highlanders 32
Gunners 44
Hwange 43
CAPS United 41
Monomotapa 43
Shabanie Mine 34
Kiglon Bird 29
Eagles 18
Shooting Stars 22
Black Mambas 30
——————————————–
Lengthens 27
Douglas Warriors 15
Bantu Rovers 37
FC Victoria 25
2009
Gunners 47
Dynamos 44
CAPS United 40
Highlanders 31
Lengthens 29
Hwange 33
Shooting Stars 32
Monomotapa 39
Bantu Rovers 30
Eagles 23
Motor Action 28
Kiglon Bird 35
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Njube Sundowns 33
——————————————–
Highway 30
Underhill 26
Black Rhinos 22
2008
Monomotapa 41
Dynamos 41
Njube Sundowns 42
Shooting Stars 37
Lengthens 37
Motor Action 35
Gunners 42
Highlanders 33
Kiglon 30
Underhill 37
Eastern Lions 23
CAPS United 35
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Lancashire Steel 37
——————————————–
Masvingo United 36
Chapungu United 31
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