Chronicle Editor
Tadious Manyepo, Harare Bureau
WARRIORS utility player Jordan Zemura hopes to take the mojo with which he is playing at his Serie A side Udinese to the national team.
Zemura is playing with a lot of confidence for a massively transformed Luca Gotti team which is constantly floating in the Uefa Champions League places.
The “White and Blacks” are a much-changed outfit from the team that battled relegation for the better part of last season.
And Zemura is proving to be a key part of the puzzle with the Zimbabwean playing a significant role for the Udine side.
He scored a stunning free-kick that proved to be the difference in Udinese’s 1-0 victory over Lecce at the Dacia Arena on Saturday.
Zemura became the first Udinese player in two years to score directly from a free-kick since Gerard Deulofeu in October 2022.
His overall performance, in which he cluttered crucial interceptions and won several duels along with near-flawless passing, earned him the man-of-the-match accolade.
And he is heading straight to South Africa where his services will be needed when Zimbabwe play Namibia in back-to-back 2025 Afcon qualifiers against Namibia.
The two southern African nations have no approved stadia to stage international matches and will swap hosting duties at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.
Namibia first host the Warriors on Thursday at 3pm before Zimbabwe return the favour at 6pm on Monday next week.
Zemura is yet to score for the Warriors in eight appearances.
“I am really hoping to carry the same energy that I am putting for my team into the national team. I have been practising a lot of free-kicks and I also scored five in training last week. I think that’s why the coach trusted me with taking set pieces.
“I am happy to have scored my first goal of the season and won the match, especially given we were coming from a 3-0 defeat against AC Milan the last time out,” said Zemura.
“I am really grateful and I am hoping that I can take the same form that I am in to the national team. Namibia is a good team and has several good players who can compete but I think we are all ready for the games.”
Zemura and other foreign-based players are expected to arrive in South Africa this morning after leaving his base yesterday.
He visited his family in England from where he was scheduled to fly to South Africa.
The locally-based Warriors together with the technical team led by head coach Michael Nees were scheduled to leave yesterday evening.
The 23-year-old star said Zimbabwe stands a good chance of beating Namibia in both games.
“I think we have a good team with so much balance to get all the points against Namibia. We should go out there with a lot of self-belief and play with the hunger that we showed in our opening two games against Kenya and Cameroon last month.
“We need to pay a lot of attention in these games because they will determine whether we retain a chance of making it to the final tournament or not.
“We have always been talking to each other as players about the need to stay focused and make things happen.
“We have a bit of knowledge about Namibia and I am sure we can use all that to try and dismantle them.
These are two crucial games that we need to win and we will be in a good space to qualify for Morocco 2025.”
While Zimbabwe and Namibia will be battling in South Africa, Kenya and Cameroon, the other teams in Group J, will play in their own back-to-back fixtures during the same break.
The two teams lead the table with four points each after drawing against the Warriors and beating Namibia.
Zimbabwe have two points after two draws while Namibia have no points after losing their first two qualifiers.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter