Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo in MARRAKECH, Morocco
JORDAN ZEMURA’S mom Sharon tries hard to hide her emotion when talking about the Warrior’s utility star absence at the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
She loves football so much and it is her who actually rescued the Udinese man when frantically looking for a suitor when Zemura seemed resigned to fate following his release by Charton Academy.
Sharon, through LinkedIn, managed the breakthrough when Bournemouth decided to give the Zimbabwean a chance and the rest is history.
And six years later, Zemura is a world-class star, and has become the first and remains the only Zimbabwean to play in the Italian Serie A.
He was supposed to play a key role for the Warriors at the ongoing AFCON finals in Morocco.
Sharon and her husband Sam plus seven other family members including renowned filmmaker Nick who travelled all the way from the United States of America are in Morocco, cheering up the Warriors who take on South Africa in a winner-takes-all Group B clash this evening.
The family members are living in a splashy apartment having travelled from across different parts of the world including Canada, the USA and UK.
They long planned for this trip to support not just Jordan but the Warriors right on the day Zimbabwe sealed their qualification for the AFCON when drawing 1-1 against Kenya at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, South Africa in November last year.
But they all hoped to see Jordan playing a key role for Zimbabwe in what was supposed to be the 26-year-old’s first full AFCON campaign.
The former Bournemouth player made his AFCON finals bow in the 2021 (played in 2022) edition in Cameroon.
But he missed the first game against Senegal due to COVID-19 complications and when he arrived in time for the second clash against Malawi, coach Norman Mapeza seated him on the bench.
He then helped Zimbabwe to a 2-1 win in a dead rubber final group match against Guinea.
And as he was just planning to fly for the current competition, Zemura suffered a muscular strain in his team, Udinese’s match against Genoa with the injury ruling him out of the contest.
“It’s so painful but then that’s part of the game,” said Sharon.
“We were all hoping to see him here in Morocco, playing for the Warriors as he has done over the past years.
“But when I received a message from his agent after the match against Genoa, I knew it was the worse news I have always feared.
“But we knew it wasn’t the end of the world. We had already planned to come to Morocco to support our country from our base in the UK. We saw no point in then aborting the journey. That’s how we ended up all travelling for the sake of our badge.”
Jordan’s cousin Jayden said: “I came all the way from Canada to cheer up the Warriors. Of course I had planned to come here and cheer Jordan up but when the news filtered in that he had been ruled out due to an injury, I couldn’t withdraw the journey.
“I knew we still needed to support Zimbabwe because that also meant supporting Jordan.
“We all love Zimbabwe and we are hoping to see the team progressing to the next round.”
Jordan’s father Sam has rarely missed the Warriors games.
“We have been meeting almost always during the Warriors games. I love the Warriors and regardless of if Jordan is in the team or not, Zimbabwe still remains my Number 1 team,” said Sam.
“But of course it could have been quite satisfying seeing Jordan representing the country.
“That is the disappointing part but we saw a lot of good reasons to come and support the Warriors even when we knew Jordan was grounded. We are praying that we advance to the next stage of the AFCON.”
Sam’s brother Nick always travels to watch Jordan in action including when he is playing in the Italian league.
“I am a bit disappointed that Jordan got injured in what was supposed to be his last match before coming to join the Warriors,” said Nick.
“But all the same, this is Africa’s biggest tournament and we made it a point as a family that we still needed to support our Warriors even if Jordan was injured.”
Jordan’s siblings Jesse, Hunter and Koi as well as cousins Josh and Jayden are some of the kids born outside Zimbabwe but one can’t really tell it as their passion for the Warriors is telling.
In the apartment and streets, they are always carrying and flying the Zimbabwean flag, singing, ululating and whistling.
The neighbourhood knows for certain that Zimbabwe is based right in Marrakech right now.
