Preview

Algeria, on the back of two successive World Cup participations, had seemingly established themselves as favourites to progress from this group after their goalless draw at Ivory Coast two weeks ago. Arriving in Harare for this fixture, the Algerians were looking to at least avoid defeat, and thus maintain their grip on their group rivals. 

In their solitary home game yet, Zimbabwe had held Ivory Coast to a goalless draw. The latter would need to travel to Algiers for the group’s final game, and so they were naturally hoping that the Zimbabwean hosts could at least draw with Algeria today. 

Libya’s record had been expunged after they’d been thrown out of the qualification following their reluctance to compete against their ‘North African brothers’ Algeria on home soil back in January. This is what the table looked prior to kick-off here in Harare: