Mwaruwari

April 9,2005 When Benjani Mwaruwari arrived in France to sign for AJ Auxerre, the indefatigable Guy Roux decided his surname was far too difficult to get his tongue around and promptly rechristened the player ‘Benjani’. Now, in the style of Brazilian and other Lusophone footballers, the Zimbabwean is better known by his first name as he continues to grow his reputation in Europe’s top club competitions. Beset by injury over the last two years, Mwaruwari has made a thrilling recovery from an operation on his thigh muscles and is now the player his native country Zimbabwe are pinning their FIFA World Cup hopes on. Zimbabwe lie off the pace in their qualifying group for the 2006 finals in Germany but are not out of the race yet, with four qualifiers still to play. In the French Ligue 1, he has already scored nine goals for AJ Auxerre and participated in the UEFA Cup. Already he has beaten the tally of eight goals he scored in his first season in France in 2002 when he made such a quick impact on his arrival after a single season at Grasshoppers Zurich in Switzerland.

The goals put him among Ligue 1’s top scorers but Mwaruwari warns he is not pushing it too hard as he seeks to put his injury concerns behind him. “It was very difficult to get my game back because when you are injured that long who lose your health and your rhythm,” he explained.

He has taken the leading role in attack at Auxerre from the French international striker Djibril Cisse, who moved to Liverpool in the English league at the end of last season. But his class and quality were well known in Africa before that. Mwaruwari was voted as the Footballer of the Year in South Africa in 2001 where he played for the Johannesburg club Jomo Cosmos.

Born in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, 26 years ago, Mwaruwari’s parents hail from Malawi but he has been a Zimbabwean international since just before his 21st birthday in 1999. Mwaruwari was back after 18 months out for the national team when he appeared in the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Nigeria in Harare in September, which Zimbabwe lost 3-0.

The striker has played 26 times for his country since making his debut in a friendly against Egypt when Clemens Westerhof, the controversial Dutch coach, handed him his first cap. The last of his five international goals came in June, 2001 in an African Nations Cup qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa. Mwaruwari will be at the forefront of Zimbabwe’s plans for their final four qualifying matches in African Group Four. Mwaruwari scored Zimbabwe's second goal last a 2-0 win against then group leaders Angola in Harare on 27 March. "Gone are the days when Zimbabwe could be discounted just like that, we have experienced players who have played at a higher level, unlike in the past where most members of the national team were locally-based. The other thing is football has undergone changes in recent years, and if you look down on your opponents because of past records and statistics, then you will regret it.”