Zimbabwe’s Tawanda Maswanhise celebrates scoring
Zimbabwe gaffer Marian Marinica has used the red-hot Motherwell FC goal machine Tawanda Maswanhise in the current Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Morocco 2025, which does come across as a bit odd to many fans.
Marinica used Maswanhise for two minutes and added time against Egypt, but not at all against Angola. They lost in the former and drew the latter.
As it stands, Marinica says, has shown more faith in super-lower-league Macauley Bonne. While Bonne was not really interesting in the first match, he did handle his lone striker role in the second.
It is impossible to square the holes for either because they have different attributes. Maswanhise is more likely to be a replacement for Prince Dube or Knowledge Musona. And with the latter subbed off early in the second half against Angola, it was a bit odd that Maswanhise stayed unpicked.
It is all scientific, says Marinica.
Oh science. The dope word people use to say, “You wouldn’t get it if I told you.”
Sure, there may be a science for it, but surely picking Washington Navaya, to come in for a winner, when you had Maswanhise, a top-goalscorer in the Scottish Premier League – only deposed because he is away – may suggest the coach may be caught up in his ideas.
Marinica has made his side more interesting, creating significant chances. There is less accident in the attack, as if it were merely a function of playing football. You can see what the players are trying to do, and they play with a much greater sense of adventure.
But in talking about science, is the coach saying Maswanhise does not fit into his system? Not at all, he says, because otherwise he would not have called him in the first place.
But as a fan, you will keep asking. Can Zimbabwe afford to keep a player of Maswanhise’s quality on the bench? And one who is a livewire and that exciting?
It does feel a bit odd.
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