The Zimbabwe Warriors attacking quartet of Cuthbert Malajila, Kingstone Nkhatha, Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat are all challenging for the Golden Boot Award. Landing it can, as Musona proved two seasons ago, attract a vehicle and hundreds of thousands of rands as prize money.
Malajila, Nkhatha and Musona, have each rattled the net five times so far this season. They are all in the running for the top honour and trail current leading goal-scorer, South African Bernard Parker, by just four goals. More than 10 games remain in the 2013-14 season.
Their compatriot, Khama Billiat, is close by with four goals. All four belong to two of the clubs challenging for league honours.
Nkhatha and Musona make up the chief striking pair for Johannesburg-based Kaizer Chiefs, who lead the log standings with 40 points from 18 starts, while Malajila and Billiat are at second-placed Sundowns – six points below the defending champions.
The Pretoria-based Brazilians, just like their main rivals for the crown, are breathing fire at the moment and chances are that the Zimbabweans could make double figures in the remaining 10 games.
Judging by current form, Nkhatha is fastest marcher to the apex of the scoring charts. Whenever Chiefs have been on target lately, the former Caps FC starlet has most often been the man to put them there.
He is also top scorer for the Amakhosi in the CAF Champions League, with three goals in two matches. He scored a brace in the first leg of their preliminary round, when they thrashed Namibia’s Black Africa 3-0 at the FNB Stadium. He was also on target in their 1-1 drawn second leg in Windhoek last weekend.
The other consistent scorer lately has been Musona, who seems to have rediscovered his great finishing as Chiefs march towards a league double again this season, as they did last year.
Malajila has been injured for some time and has not been in the Sundowns line-up to continue to make a case for himself in the Golden Boot, while some poor finishing has been Billiat’s biggest undoing in most of the games. The tear-away winger could have easily notched-up more than half a dozen goals in his side’s last two games, but settled for just one in two games.
The scoring form of these strikers should be good news for Warriors coach Ian Gorowa as he weighs his options for the 2015 African Nations Cup qualifiers, which begin later in the year. Gorowa showed during last month’s African Nations Championships that he had assembled a very strong and entertaining squad, but the last third became his biggest undoing, as what looked like clear-cut chances went begging and robbed Zimbabwe of a final appearance, or even silverware.
Post published in: Football