Nearly every football-loving Zimbabwean is affiliated to a team in the English Premier League.
The English top-flight is regarded as the most watched football league in the world and always has fans glued to their television sets all over the globe. Zimbabweans are no exception.
When Warriors mi Marvelous Nakamba moved from Belgian side Club Brugge to Aston Villa in August 2019, Zimbabweans developed a soft-spot for the Birmingham-based side.
Nakamba broke a nine-year wait for a Zimbabwean to play in the Premier League.
Seeing one of their own rub shoulders with the world’s finest made the Claret and Blue a second home to many football loving sadza-eaters.
They used to bombard the Villa Twitter page with comments in support of the down to earth Warriors star.
But the start of the 2022/23 Premier League season has resulted in some Zimbabweans changing their attitude towards the Midlands side.
Nakamba has not featured for the Steven Gerrard-coached side this season.
He was not even in the match day squad for the opening two games of the season —the 0-2 loss to Bournemouth and the 2-1 victory over Everton.
After today’s 0-1 loss at home to West Ham, iconic sports journalist Robson ‘Chakariboy’ Sharuko took to Twitter and wrote “Thank You West Ham”.
The veteran scribe’s post on the microblogging site attracted replies which show that Zimbabweans were patiently waiting for Gerrard’s men to lose, for the obvious reason.
Below are some of the replies.
kusvika vapinza mukomana😅
— Gamu Ziie (@GamuchiraiZiya1) August 28, 2022
Yes…..As @Arsenal we are eagerly waiting for a less confident Aston Villa on Wednesday🤣🤣
— MrMK (@KMakaudze) August 28, 2022
Am not the only one who was supporting West Ham
— Farie (@farie_b) August 28, 2022
Agreed , hope e losing streak continues
— Doug Carragher (@DouglasKaraga) August 28, 2022
If you know you know
— Tiyane (@johnsonmaunda) August 28, 2022