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Robson Sharuko-Senior Sports Editor
YOU would think by now, after two years in the English Premiership, everyone now knows Marvelous Nakamba is a Zimbabwean international footballer.
It should be that simple, isn’t it?
Especially given he is the only Zimbabwean featuring in the world’s richest top-flight league, the one with the biggest fan patronage, around the world.
But, somehow, they still get something wrong, when it comes to the Aston Villa defensive midfielder, who first fascinated the English, on his arrival, with his first name.
Yesterday, Matt Maher, the chief sports writer for the Express & Star, the regional evening newspaper based in Wolverhampton, covering the Black Country area of England, got it totally wrong, in terms of Nakamba’s nationality.
In his player ratings, after Villa’s 2-3 defeat at the hands of Watford on Saturday, Maher gave Nakamba five out of 10, for his performance against Watford.
But, that is not what caught the eye.
He listed Nakamba as a Nigerian international rather than a Warrior.
“Marvelous Nakamba, the Nigeria international has the chance to prove he is the long-term answer in the middle of the park,’’ Maher wrote.
“This was a far from terrific start (wasteful 5).’’
It’s possible, it was just a mistake, it happens a lot in this profession but, since it was published on the website of the newspaper, it should have been corrected.
And, given it was the Express & Star’s most popular article in the sports section, when it was posted yesterday, it should probably have been picked that a big mistake had been made.
But, somehow, it stayed there for hours.
The Express & Star is said to have the fastest growing website, among the leading regional publishers, with an average of more than 900 000 monthly unique users a month.
It is the fourth highest, among the top 20 regional British titles.
Ashley Preece, who covers Villa for BirminghamLive, was more complementary for the way Nakamba played against Watford, even though he also gave him five out of 10.
“The Zimbabwean enjoyed a decent enough start and it’s evident from the summer that he looks much better on the ball,’’ Preece wrote.
“Nakamba backed himself in tight areas and even turned provider as he slipped (Danny) Ings in after getting away from the likes of (Tom) Cleverley and (Juraj) Kucka.
“Nakamba was guilty of a hospital pass infield before John McGinn got him out of jail as the Scot put (Ismaila) Sarr off. The midfielder was swamped too often, though, as Watford bossed the midfield. In his defence.
“Nakamba tried absolutely everything.’’
The Zimbabwean midfielder was always tipped to start in this match, after impressive performances, in the final matches, of last season.
He also had good pre-season while the absence of Brazilian midfielder, Douglas Luiz, who featured at the Copa America and the Olympics, always meant Nakamba was the first-choice, for the role of enforcer.
However, Luiz is now back in Birmingham and returned to Bodymoor Heath, for training, yesterday.
“Luiz missed the whole of Villa’s pre-season preparations ahead of the new 2021/22 Premier League campaign this summer while away on international duty,’’ reported BirminghamLive.
“Luiz made two appearances for Brazil at the 2021 Copa America, which was staged in his home nation.
“The 23-year-old played over an hour against Ecuador in what was the Selecao’s final Group B fixture.
“Luiz also made an appearance against Peru, as he was introduced late on with Brazil already 1-0 up in the Copa semi-final.
“Luiz stared five of Brazil’s six games at the Olympics, as the nation won gold in the men’s football tournament, which would have gone some way in easing Luiz’s frustrations of being shown a red card for a soft challenge in the group stage match against Ivory Coast.
“Now back at Villa’s training base, Luiz will already have a high level of fitness having returned from two international tournaments earlier this summer.’’
Whether Villa manager, Dean Smith, will decide to ring the changes, when they host Newcastle United, in their next league match, after the demoralising defeat at Watford, remains to be seen.
However, what is clear is Smith doesn’t believe they have already started to feel the absence of their former captain, Jack Grealish, who has moved to Manchester City.
“We are over Jack,” he told BirminghamLive. “He is not here, he is not our player. The players are fully aware of that and we have moved on.
“The fans have had to move on as well, he is not our player.”
Online Reporter