Strikers finally start to strike
Mwape Musonda became the first man in seven seasons to break 15 goals in the Absa Premiership when his 16 strikes earned him the Golden Boot at the end of the 2018/19 season.
Gabadinho Mhango of Orlando Pirates celebrate after scoring a goal during the Absa Premiership match between Polokwane City and Orlando Pirates at New Peter Mokaba Stadium . (Photo by Philip Maeta/Gallo Images)
The South African top flight has a pretty horrible overall record in terms of goalscoring, yet there is every sign, as we stand, of the 15-goal mark getting broken again this season, and by more than one player. With anything between 17 and 12 games left to play for sides in the Premiership, two players have already reached double figures in the league, more than managed it last season, when Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana striker Thembinkosi Lorch finished second to Zambia striker Musonda with nine goals.
Malawian Gabadinho Mhango’s hat-trick on the weekend against Polokwane City moved him up to 10 goals for the season along with AmaZulu’s Bongi Ntuli, one bright spot for Usuthu in a pretty dismal campaign thus far.
Namibian Peter Shalulile, meanwhile, already has nine goals for Highlands Park, as many as Lorch managed last season for the Buccaneers, while there are eight goals apiece for Samir Nurkovic of Kaizer Chiefs, Bradley Grobler of SuperSport United and Knox Mutizwa of Golden Arrows.
One worry for fans of Bafana Bafana, in this list of top scorers for the current season, is just two are South African – Grobler, already a member of Molefi Ntseki’s Bafana Bafana squad, and Ntuli, who is surely knocking on the door for his own senior international call-up.
It would certainly do the national team a world of good if there were more homegrown strikers regularly hitting the back of the net, though it must be mentioned that another Bafana striker, Kermit Erasmus, is sitting with seven goals in the season so far, and has been hit by injury in recent months.
In general, it is encouraging to see more consistency in goalscoring in the Premiership, epitomised in a player like Mhango, who always had the talent, but sparked into life far too irregularly at Bidvest Wits. His first two finishes against City on Saturday were pure class, the first curled into the top corner and the second chipped delicately over the goalkeeper. If he can keep this up, there has to be the possibility that he can be the first striker to 20 goals in a league season since Siyabonga Nomvethe did it in the 2011/12 campaign.
Pirates certainly have an attacking philosophy that should give him plenty more opportunities as the season progresses. Ntuli is also thriving as the main man in AmaZulu’s attack, while Nurkovic and Leonardo Castro are also players to look out for in terms of the tussle for the Golden Boot, with Kaizer Chiefs so dominant right now at the top of the Absa Premiership. Chiefs already have 36 goals in the league this season, nine more than any other team, and if they keep up that sort of net-bulging production, Nurkovic and Castro are sure to benefit.
Grobler, too, is a man capable of going on another streak of goalscoring form, as he managed earlier in the season, when he shot out of the blocks to earn his place in the Bafana squad.
All in all, unless Sundowns and Wits can keep the pressure on Chiefs, or unless Amakhosi fold remarkably, the race for the top scorer this season, could just be more exciting than the race for the league title.
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