Teenage Zim soccer star shines

From Admore Tshuma in LONDON, England ONE of Zimbabwe's most promising and upcoming soccer prodigies is teenage defender Farai Hallam, based in England. Those who have seen Farai play have likened him with the late powerful Highlanders and national team defender, Mercedes "Rambo" Sibanda or Joel Shambo (both late). Among Zimbabwe football lovers, the mention of these soccer heroes' names evoke memories of the country's Dream Team - that almost qualified for the World Cup under German Coach Reinhard Fabish. The Dream Team, as it was affectionately known, contained the likes of former Coventry City striker Peter Ndlovu, Mercedes Sibanda, Norman Mapeza, the late Benjamin Nkonjera and so on. Farai seem to be retracing the footsteps of our football greats - Peter Ndlovu went on to be described as the "African George Best" as he became a phenomenon in English Premiership during the 1990s. Zimbabwe should be blessed to have talents like Farai itching to play for them at that level. On his motherly descent, he is eligible to play for Zimbabwe. Groomed and guided by some of England's finest footballers of our time, Farai told me that he wants to wear a Zimbabwe national team (Warriors) shirt. It's a dream he wants to achieve. This week, we tracked down Farai, who, without any semblance of doubt, has a lot of potential to make Zimbabwe's football spark again. He is a disciplined, humble and diligent football player who deserves a place in any serious and modern team. Born in England of a Zimbabwean mother and English father, Farai is currently on a two-year scholarship at Stevenage Football Club after grabbing the first opportunity to play for a professional club. Farai, aged 18, is a central defender at the English NPower League 1 side, Stevenage. The tall and visibly strong defender says his dream is to play for the Zimbabwe national team. "My dream is to represent Zimbabwe, I have visited Zimbabwe three times already and still have plenty of family members living there, it would be an honour of the highest accolade for me personally and for my family to play for Zimbabwe at an international stage," he said. His father, Keith Hallam, said the family was supportive of Farai desire to play for Zimbabwe as it was his choice. "To show that support, we have attended the African Cup of Nations tournaments to support Zimbabwe in the past, and we also attended the Athletics World Championship meeting in Helsinki, to support Brian Dzingai," Farai's father said. Appointed as youth team captain, Farai has been a regular in the youth team in 2010/11. Apart from being a defender, Farai has scored three goals, something which is unusual for a player in his position. One of his amazing goals was an audacious 70m drive, which he executed goal that stunned many. Farai has also featured for the Stevenage reserve side when his team was promoted to NPower League 1 after a play-off final win at Manchester United's Old Trafford. Born in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, Farai grew up in London where he attended Wanstead Church School and then proceeded to Beal High School. He started playing football in the streets of East London, Wanstead flats at the age of eight. Since, he has not looked back, played on Saturday mornings at the local park where he was eventually contracted at a professional club. Before that, the young defender has represented his School in every academic year on football, as well as representing the local district, Redbridge schools in years 10 and 11. Farai also played for the local side, Redbridge United for four seasons, where he made 100 appearances and scored 40 goals. At Redbridge United he was named captained for four years and ultimately voted player of the year. He has also represented the Essex County, in years 11 and 12, where he made 10 county appearances. Upon finishing High School at the age of 16, Farai was accepted at Barking Abbey Centre of Football Excellence where he spent one very successful and progressive year. He became a regular in the Barking Abbey side that won the English Schools under 18 competitions at Premier League side Everton's Goodison Park, where he scored the opening goal in a 3-0 victory. Without doubt, this was a very good end to the 2009/10 season for him in which he scored eight goals from central defence as well as playing in victorious friendlies for Barking Abbey against Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers. "At the moment I hope to get a good pre-season under my belt which will leave me in good spirit to push on and hopefully make a good impression on the management staff at Stevenage, I am aiming to make as many appearances this season as I can, whether it be youth team or reserve team games, or whether it be out on loan or even first team appearances. "My ultimate goal is to gain a professional contract here at Stevenage," he said. Farai knows he still has plenty of work to do to fulfill his dreams, but knows he would not be where he is now without a lot of hard work and dedication. "All my previous managers and coaches who I have learnt off have been fantastic for me and my development, as well as my best mate Edward O'Neill who has helped me to develop as a player through spending hours on the training ground together, but most of all my mum and dad have always supported me and helped me and I am eternally grateful to them for that," the young defender said. Farai's mother is Susan Hallam, nee Nyabango, originally from Makonza Kraal at Wedza-Goto in Zimbabwe. Farai has two elder sisters. Cousin Brian Dzingai is a Zimbabwe Olympic athlete. - The ZimDiaspora