Arthur Zwane warns South African football is losing sight of goals

AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane says South African football’s growing focus on possession is coming at the expense of goalscoring, warning that the country is failing to develop strikers who can decide matches.

Zwane was speaking ahead of AmaZulu’s MTN8 quarter-final against Sekhukhune United on Sunday, having identified his team’s failure to take chances as the main concern from their opening Betway Premiership match last weekend.

AmaZulu defeated Stellenbosch in that fixture, but Zwane believes they should have won more comfortably after creating several clear opportunities. The former Kaizer Chiefs coach used the phrase “Facebook football” to describe what he sees as an unhealthy obsession with players accumulating touches and passes without producing shots or goals.

“We’re not playingFacebookfootball,” Zwane said during AmaZulu’s media open day at Kings Park Stadium on Wednesday.

“A lot of people are commenting about players having 250 touches, but when you look at it, there are no shots and no goals. That’s not where football should be.”

Zwane said possession should be used to create danger rather than treated as an objective in itself. His preferred approach involves drawing opponents out, attacking the space left behind and finishing the chances that follow.

“You attract the opposition, you exploit the space, you create goalscoring opportunities and you make sure you bury them,” he said. “That’s how you compete in the PSL.”

The AmaZulu manager believes that principle has been overlooked in South Africa, particularly in the development of strikers. He contrasted the modern forward with previous generations of attackers who were primarily judged by their ability to score.

“That’s why in this country today we don’t have goalscorers like we used to,” Zwane said.

He pointed to Fani Madida, Phil Masinga, Shaun Bartlett, Siyabonga Nomvethe and Collins Mbesuma as examples of forwards who accepted responsibility for finding the net.

“The striker’s job is to finish. Be around the box and finish,” he said. “If I don’t score goals, that means I’m not doing my job.”

According to Zwane, modern attackers are increasingly expected to contribute everywhere on the pitch. They are often encouraged to drop into midfield, move into wide areas and take part in lengthy passing sequences, even when that takes them away from positions where they can score.

He questioned whether involvement in possession should receive so much praise when it does not necessarily help a team.

“Players are all over the field. People are giving them credit, but when you look closely, some of the passes actually put their teammates under pressure and they still get praised,” he said.

“The worst part is those are youngsters. If we continue to develop players like that in this country, we’re going to suffer in the future.”

Zwane stressed that he is not opposed to possession football. Instead, he cited world champions Spain as an example of a side that combines control with attacking purpose.

“As much as they kept possession, they were direct. They created the most chances,” he said. “At the end of the day, if they didn’t score goals, all that possession would have counted for nothing.”

His concern is also linked to the number of goals scored in domestic competition, with leading scorers in the league seldom reaching 15 goals across a full season.

“We’re not feeding our strikers. We’re not making them look deadly,” he said.

That problem is one AmaZulu must address immediately. Zwane admitted he remains concerned about his own team’s finishing ahead of the meeting with Sekhukhune United.

“As long as we don’t score goals, I’m worried,” he admitted.

For Zwane, the message is straightforward: possession can help a side control a match, but only goals determine the result.