dyton mupawaenda
Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
WARRIORS utility star Jordan Zemura hopes to take his club form to the national team.
Zemura is playing with a lot of confidence for Serie A side Udinese who look quite transformed under coach Luca Gotti.
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 significant roles 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.
That means Zemura became the first Udinese player in two years to score directly from a free kick since Gerard Deulofeu did it 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 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The two Southern African nations will swap hosting duties at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.
Namibia first entertain the Warriors on Thursday 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 practicing 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 managed to score my first goal of the season and seeing it win the match especially given we were coming from a 3-0 defeat against AC Milan the last time out.”
He added:
“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 they have several good players who can compete.
“But I think we are all ready for the games.”
Zemura, just like all other foreign based players, is expected to arrive in South Africa this morning after leaving his base yesterday.
He got some time to visit his family in England from where he was scheduled to connect to Johannesburg.
The locally-based Warriors, together with the technical team led by Michael Nees, were scheduled to leave yesterday evening.
“I think we have a good team with so much balance to get all the points against Namibia,” said Zemura.
“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 on 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.”
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter