Warriors’ new found gem Tawanda Chirewa was virtually unplayable when Zimbabwe played South Africa in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier at Free State Stadium on Bloemfontein last Tuesday evening.
Zimbabwe lost the match 3 – 1, a result which all but dented the country’s hopes of making it to the global football showpiece which will be hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico.
But young Chirewa, who plays for English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers, had a delightful performance for the beleaguered Warriors.
So enchanting was his performance that even South Africa fans fell in love with him and they gave him a new nickname.
Gojasi they called him.
Gojasi is just an adulterated spelling of the English word ‘gorgeous’.
The South African fans thought his performance was gorgeous while the women folk referred to his good and youthful looks.
Some went on social media asking whether he was a boy or a girl because they felt he was too handsome to be male.
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For Zimbabwe a new star was born that night, one who still makes a country dream in spite of the current doldrums in local football.
The 20-year-old forward, who aptly donned the number 20 shirt for the Warriors, only needed about 69 minutes across two matches to open his goal account for Zimbabwe.
And he did it with a little bit of individual brilliance with an equalizer in the second minute of the tie against Bafana Bafana.
“Obviously it’s a proud moment to score for Zimbabwe. I am happy I scored, but the result was poor and so we want to apologise to the fans and say we are learning, we will keep improving and we will go again in October. I assure you that we will be better in those qualifiers,” he said after the Bafana Bafana match.
“It’s not my role to comment on the areas to improve the team but I just know we will improve. Obviously, we made a lot of individual errors and we did not take some of our chances, but we have good players and we will come right.
“I am not happy with my performance because we didn’t win. But I am proud to play for Zimbabwe. It’s my country, my family is from here. I am so happy to be able to play two games for Zimbabwe and score my first goal. I just want to give the glory to God and tell the fans that I am going to work to get better and better and hopefully take us to the World Cup and Afcon,” Chirewa said.
Chirewa was born in Essex , England to Zimbabwean parents and he rose to prominence when he turned out for Ipswich Town. He would go in to sign his first professional contract with Ipswich in November 2020, signing a deal until 2022, with the option of an additional year extension.
Premier League side Wolves captured the young prodigy in September last year and he joined the development side but quickly impressed first team coach Gary O’neal, who gave him his senior team breakthrough as a second-half substitute, in the FA Cup away to Brentford in January this year.
Chirewa made his Premier League debut, as a second-half substitute, in a 0–0 draw away to Brighton & Hove Albion also in Januray.
In March 2024, Chirewa was called up by the Zimbabwe national team for the Four Nations Tournament in Malawi but requested to be excused to concentrate on club football.
Warriors coach Jairos Tapera was equally impressed by Chirewa in his first two assignments as the senior team coach.
“Chirewa was excellent. We had instructed him to play in-between the defensive midfield and the defence of South Africa and he did so well. (It’s) his second international game and he gets a goal. That was excellent. He is a clever young man and I think going forward, we have a gem in him,” he said after the South Africa game," Tapera said.
Chirewa will likely open the door for other diaspora-born players to play for Zimbabwe.
