Zimbabwe have put themselves in a good position to qualify for the 2022 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon after the latest set of qualifiers earlier this month. Matchday 3 & 4 games took place in November with the Zimbabweans facing holders Algeria in a double header in Group H of the qualifiers.
The Zimbabwe national football team had gone six games without a single defeat ahead of the away trip to Algeria. In the end, the six-match unbeaten run was ended as they tasted their first defeat in Group H courtesy the 3-1 loss to the African Champions.
In the matchday 3 clash played at the Stade du 5 de Juilletin Algeria, Baghdad Bounedjah, Sofiane Feghouli and Riyad Mahrez scored the goals for the Desert Foxes of Algeria, while Lyon attacker Tino Kadewere got the consolation goal for the visitors in the last ten minutes of the game. The result maintained the perfect qualifying record of the Algerians ahead of their matchday 4 meeting in Harare.
For the matchday 4 clash played at the National Sports Stadium in Harare last week Monday, Zimbabwe went behind twice in the first half through goals from Andy Delort and Riyad Mahrezinside four minutes before skipper Knowledge Musona pulled one back for the home side just before the half-time interval.
Prince Dube completed the comeback in the second half as Zimbabwe earned a crucial point in their quest to qualify for Cameroon 2022.Zimbabwe were able to stop the perfect record of the Algerians in the group with that late goal from Prince Dube and also able to move one point ahead of Bostwana in third position and two points ahead of Zambia in the fourth and final position.
With the tough games against Algeria out of the way, Zimbabwe will travel to Gaborone to face Botswana before finishing their qualifiers with an home game against former African champions Zambia.
Zimbabwe have five points from four games, while group leaders are on ten points. Botswana have four points, while bottom team Zambia have three points.