Team Zim-UK’s latest find
By Eddie Chikamhi
Just a few months after Tendai Darikwa and Alec Mudimu made a big impression in the senior national football team colours, Zimbabwe could unearth another gem in 18-yead-old Joshua Jeche who plays for Cambridge United’s developmental side in the United Kingdom.
Jeche is a right-back who has been in the Cambridge United’s structures from a tender age and has become a permanent feature in the League Two side’s youth outfit.
After making a slow start with the development side, the right-back featured prominently in the FA Youth Cup campaign which, however, ended in an anti-climax after they crashed to a 3-1 defeat to Reading last November.
Team Zimbabwe-UK chief executive Marshall Gore said they will continue to monitor the teenager’s progress with the hope of one day bringing him back “home” to play for the Warriors.
“New Year and another new discovery in the UK Diaspora. Joshua Jeche a terrific 18-yea-old Right Back @ Cambridge United Football Club.
“We’re now tracing his progress. Please get in touch if you know any professional football players with Zimbabwe roosts playing abroad. We need our talent home,” wrote Gore on his Facebook wall yesterday.
Jeche was born in Zimbabwe before he moved to the UK to join his family which is based in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west.
The city of Cambridge is the county town.
Team Zimbabwe-UK are credited for leading the crusade to help players either born or raised in the diaspora to retrace their footsteps and play for the national team.
The organisation has expedited the availability of such players as Mudimu and Darikwa who have both since fitted in the senior national team.
The duo made remarkable performances in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers last year and should be coming home in March for the do-or-die clash against Congo Brazzaville.
The Team Zimbabwe-UK are also chasing a host of others who include Adam Chicksen, Macauley Bonne, Kelly Lunga and Leicester City’s Admiral Muskwe.
There is even a larger pool of Zimbabweans in the diaspora but Jeche is the latest find. His parent club, Cambridge United Football Club, is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.
The club currently plays in League Two, the fourth tier of the English league system. The club was founded in 1912 as Abbey United, and took the name Cambridge United in 1951. The Herald
