Mugeyi urges PSL strikers to put goals ahead of possession football

Wilfred Mugeyi, the first-ever Premier Soccer League Golden Boot winner, has urged the competition’s current strikers to focus on scoring rather than becoming heavily involved in build-up play as the PSL marks its 30th anniversary.

The former Zimbabwe international claimed the award during the league’s inaugural 1996/97 season, scoring 23 goals for Bush Bucks. His outstanding campaign also earned him the Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season awards.

Mugeyi, who was nicknamed the ‘Silver Fox’, is one of only five players to have scored more than 20 goals in a single PSL season. The others are Collins Mbesuma, Pollen Ndlanya, Peter Shalulile and the late Lesley Manyathela.

Speaking to KickOff this week, Mugeyi said the modern emphasis on possession and patient passing can leave forwards isolated and reduce their effectiveness in front of goal.

“The problem nowadays is the build-up play that is popular now. There is too much ball possession,” laments Mugeyi, in conversation with KickOff this week.

“You spend five minutes passing the ball around in your own half, which makes the striker become isolated up front. He gets frustrated and ends up dropping to the midfield because he also wants to play.

“By the time the ball reaches the front, the striker is not there; he has joined the build-up. Strikers are judged by scoring goals, not by passing.”

The former Bush Bucks forward also believes strikers faced stronger competition during the early years of the PSL, when every team possessed defenders capable of making life difficult for attackers.

“It was tough for strikers during our days. If you look at players who played during that time, every PSL team had quality. The competition was very tough, but we could still score goals.

“Nowadays, a Top Goalscorer wins the Golden Boot with 14 goals. In our time, there were quality strikers. I scored 23 goals that season against tough defenders like Bernard ‘Shooz’ Lushozi and Gavin Lane at Orlando Pirates. At Kaizer Chiefs, they had players like Neil Tovey.

“Those days, teams would assign a defender to follow you around the pitch for 90 minutes. It made things difficult for strikers to score goals,” he adds, going to reveal his best game from 1996/97.

Mugeyi identified a 2-1 victory over Orlando Pirates in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha, as the standout match of his award-winning campaign. He had missed almost three weeks because of injury before returning to the team for the fixture.

“It was when we beat Pirates at Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). It was my first game back from injury. I had been out for almost three weeks, and when I came back, I scored two goals, and we beat Pirates 2-1.

“They had Williams Okpara, Jerry Sikhosana, and John Moeti.”

The match was particularly memorable for Mugeyi because he scored both of Bush Bucks’ goals against a Pirates side that included Williams Okpara, Jerry Sikhosana and John Moeti.