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News

Zimbabwe: Zemura Comes of Age

todayOctober 11, 2024 1

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Tadious Manyepo — Jordan Zemura has garnered so much experience in Warriors colours and it was in full display when Zimbabwe beat Namibia 1-0 in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier behind closed doors at Orlando Stadium in South Africa yesterday.

The Udinese star has always shown his quality but his rather conservative approach to the game has not been quite helping his cause. The Warriors had before yesterday won just one competitive game, the 2-1 victory over Guinea in the African Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon back in January 2022 with Zemura in the field of play has rather been seemingly working against his profile.

But he stepped up to the plate yesterday with a flawless show that won Zimbabwe a penalty that was bundled home by Khama Billiat for the only goal of the game 34 minutes into the reverting Southern African derby. While the Warriors had to muddle on and get the maximum points in a match in which they had to put in a solid defensive shift in the second period to smooth the Brave Warriors, it is Zemura who should have walked off an empty Soweto venue feeling more satisfied.

On entering the stadium, he should have felt the same way he felt when he debuted for the Warriors in November 2020 in a 2022 AFCON qualifier against Algeria at the 5 July Stadium in Algiers.

Zemura impressed in his left-back role where he was deployed in coach Michael Nees’ 4-3-3 formation.

The German gaffer, who was winning his first game as Warriors coach having played out two goalless draws against Kenya and Cameroon, made several changes to his starting line-up from the one that started against Cameroon in Uganda last month.