Liverpool Football Club wonderkid, Trey Nyoni, has made Zimbabwe proud.
The young, history-making footballer may have only played for 13 minutes during their recent match but he made his indelible mark and will be forever remembered.
Aged just 16, Trey made his debut for Liverpool in their 3-0 FA Cup victory over Southampton on Wednesday 28 February.
The teenager became the youngest player to feature for Liverpool in the FA Cup – a tournament that is 153 years old! – while overall he is the club’s third youngest player of all time.
Zimbabwean football fans at home and abroad are celebrating alongside Trey, born in the United Kingdom to Zimbabwean parents who moved to that country in 2000.
The midfielder made it to the back pages of local newspapers as people went overboard to celebrate his epic performance.
On online platforms, he is also dominating news space.
I am not much of a football fan but I couldn’t resist writing about this young star who got people talking and raised the country’s flag high.
Zimbabwe is normally in the news for all the wrong reasons and Zimbos hardly get a reason to celebrate, so when such happens, people go all out.
Of course, some haters are saying Trey is not one of us since he was born in the UK and has a British citizenship but the bottom line is that he has Zim blood flowing in his veins and thus deserves to be locally celebrated.
And, who knows, he might one day play for the country’s national team and lead The Warriors to greatness.
When South Africa won the Rugby World Cup in 2019 while being led by Zimbabwean-born Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira, Zimbos also celebrated the win because the player is a homeboy.
I guess that’s how we are as a people, if not as Africans; we celebrate when one of us scores big.
We don’t care that the person has migrated and changed citizenship or has never set foot in the motherland, as long as they know and acknowledge their roots, it’s all that matters.
Remember how Kenyans went gaga when former United States President, Barack Obama, won the presidential race? They celebrated his victory as theirs and even referred to him as the Kenyan who is ruling in America.
So, yes, we are also celebrating Trey’s world- breaking record and we will continue doing so as long as he continues to shine in his career.
And by the way, I have since shifted my allegiance from supporting the Reds of Manchester United to the Reds of Merseyside, there seems to be more cheer in that club.
My sexy sub-editor tells me the Whites of Leeds United are also enjoying a fine season and are poised to win promotion back to the English Premier League; but seeing as they don’t have any Zimbabweans playing for them, I think I’ll stick with Liverpool!