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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE odds are heavily staked against Zimbabwe in Tuesday afternoon’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Ghana at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Smarting from Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Black Stars, Zimbabwe will be hoping to end an eight-match winless streak.
The last time Zimbabwe won a game was on March 25 when they edged Botswana 1-0 in Francistown to book a place in the next Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals set for 2022 in Cameroon.
Four days later, the Warriors fell 0-2 at home to Zambia in a dead rubber.
In July, the Warriors went for the regional Cosafa Cup tournament where they returned without a win, playing to draws against Mozambique (0-0) and Malawi (2-2) before losing 0-2 to Namibia and 1-2 against guest nation Senegal.
Last month, Zimbabwe drew 0-0 against South Africa in the opening Group G match of the 2022 World Cup qualifier and lost 1-0 away to Ethiopia.
The defeat to Ethiopia claimed the scalp of Croatian coach Zdravko Logarusic, who was replaced by Norman Mapeza in the interim.
On his Warriors comeback, Mapeza lost 3-1 to Ghana last Saturday and has an opportunity to make up for the defeat when they encounter the Black Stars in Harare on Tuesday.
The Warriors anchor the group with just one point from three games and South Africa lead Group G with seven points followed by Ghana with six points and Ethiopia on three points.
For Zimbabwe to remain in contention of qualifying to the next round, which at this stage looks impossible, they have to win all their remaining three games, starting on Tuesday with Ghana, and hope the other teams fail to collect maximum points when they clash. – @ZililoR
Online Reporter