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Robson Sharuko

Senior Sports Editor

THREE weeks ago, an English newspaper described Jordan Zemura as the ace which, just a few months ago, no one at AFC Bournemouth knew they had in their stable.

The Dorset Echo also described him as the ‘’Smiling Assassin,’’ the footballer whose infectious smile hides a deadly package, which has been crushing the resistance of the opposition.

In both instances, the newspaper could also have been talking about Zemura, and the Warriors. After all, it’s now clear, the 21-year-old is an ace which, just a few months ago, no one at the Warriors knew they had, within their ranks.

And, as for being the ‘’Smiling Assassin,’’ it’s something which runs naturally, among local footballers, with his Warriors captain, Knowledge Musona, having the trademark rights, for that nickname.

It has been one hell of a crazy ride, for club and country, for Zemura, in what has been a breakthrough year, for him.

“The ‘Smiling Assassin’ has played every minute of Championship football this season, and marks a rise into professional football that nobody saw coming,’’ Jacob Tanswell, the Dorset Echo journalist, wrote on September 24.

“Jordan Zemura’s all-encompassing smile simply cannot be stirred.

“It has been his, and perhaps Bournemouth’s enduring expression, since the start of the season.

“A grin so bright, and extensive that not even the supporter sitting in the back row of the Steve Fletcher Stand, could miss.

“It is a smile that is perfectly apt in marking his emergence at the club and in the professional game.

“For all the bitterness, and cynicism that occasionally envelops football, seeing a young man, with a beam that is now permanently plastered across his face, in the midst of his dream, helps us all rediscover the very essence of sport.

“In truth, his two goals against Barnsley and, the ensuing poetry-loving admission that followed, were just footnotes to the season he had been having.

“Only Lloyd Kelly can match Zemura’s numbers of eight games played and 720 minutes recorded.

“The left back’s whirlwind rise into the spotlight has been as seamless as it has been surprising.  “It was only little over two months ago that some still within the club expected the young Zimbabwe international to end up featuring sporadically over the course of the campaign.’’

However, the Zimbabwean has shown he doesn’t only belong to the Bournemouth first team squad, but also in the starting XI. “The hope prior to the opening day against West Brom was that Zemura would be able to survive the Championship’s seas during the season’s early months,’’ Tanswell wrote.

“Of course, those early forecasts have been unequivocally exceeded.

“Not content with just surviving, he has gone onto to strike up one of the league’s most formidable partnerships and prove a stand-out performer in the stand-out team.

“Highly popular with club staff and those in the dressing room and since arriving at the club on an initial trial basis in 2019, he has continued to make lasting impressions.

“Zemura has been the ace in Bournemouth’s pack of cards that no one, supporters or even those within the club, could have ever foreseen happening so quickly.

“He is the Scott Parker cheat code that is thriving within an environment that is proving conducive to younger players.

“Not 22 until November, he’s showing unmistakable signs that bigger things will eventually beckon.

“For Bournemouth’s sake, let that be with them and in the Premier League.’’

It’s not only his club career, which has been flourishing.

Far away from England, where he was born on the riverside suburb of Lambeth in London, just before the turn of the millennium, Zemura has been making a huge impression, in the colours of his country.

The young man, who told his father Sam his mission was to serve his fatherland, when it comes to international football, is fulfilling his wish, in some style.

It’s never a straight forward affair, for someone who grew up playing on the green fields of England, to quickly transform himself into an effective player, on the hard and, at times bumpy, surfaces of African football.

There is also the culture shock, which comes with having to adjust to the low levels of professionalism, among the officials who run the game on the continent, compared to the efficiency of those, who run it in Europe.

The coaching is also different.

But, once he had settled, after using the two AFCON qualifiers against Algeria to ease into the system, and adjust to the challenges, Zemura has been a beast for the Warriors.

He was their outstanding player, by a country mile, in the World Cup qualifier in Ghana, playing without any fear, as he kept driving at the heart of the Black Stars defence.

It was his pass which resulted in the penalty, which Musona converted, for the only goal the Warriors have scored, in their 2022 World Cup qualifying group.

He came within inches of a debut international goal, only to be denied by the width of the post, and when he was pulled out, the Warriors appeared to lose the passion, which had been driving them.

Zemura was again the team’s outstanding player, in the 0-1 home defeat to the West Africans, at the National Sports Stadium, on Tuesday.

His arrival onto the Warriors stage also appears to have been timed to perfection.

It’s now clear the sun has set, on a number of players, who have been part of the Warriors, in the past decade, and the team is crying out for an injection of the youth brigade, to revive it.

Zemura has staked his claim, maybe Jonah Fabisch will do so, too, while every effort should be made to convince Tawanda Maswanhise, to consider a dance with the Warriors.

Macauley Bonne is still just 25, and has rediscovered his scoring touch, while the likes of Marshall Munetsi, Marvelous Nakamba and Tino Kadewere have, at least, another five years, at the top.

There is gloom in the Warriors camp, after their disastrous World Cup campaign but, as Zemura showed, against the Black Stars, there is also a rainbow of hope.

The remaining two World Cup qualifying dead rubbers should be used to give us a glimpse into the future and not a glance into our miserable past.