daniel chigunwe
Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S poor ranking is likely to play a decisive role when the draw for the 2021 AFCON finals is conducted in Cameroon tomorrow.
The Warriors, who are ranked 26th in Africa, were placed in pot three of the draw, and have the prospects of facing the hosts Cameroon or holders Algeria, who headline the top seeded teams.
Zimbabwe are represented in Cameroon for the draw by ZIFA president Felton Kamambo and national teams’ general manager, Wellington Mpandare.
The duo left for the West African country last Friday. Coach Zdravko Logarusic could not attend the draw, since he was granted compassionate leave to return home to Croatia, to attend to a family problem.
The pre-tournament formalities kicked off yesterday with Mpandare, joining his counterparts in a day-long Team Managers’ workshop, meant to equip the logistics personnel with skills, to ensure smooth running of the tournament. The delegations, from all the participating countries, are expected to tour the facilities in Cameroon on Wednesday, to get an appreciation of the progress made by the Local Organising Committee.
Zimbabwe, who are set to make a fifth appearance at the tournament, will know which opponents they will face, tomorrow.
The draw, to be held at Yaoundé Conference Centre tomorrow, will see the 24 participating teams divided into six groups of four teams each.
For the draw, the qualified teams have been put into pots, based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. The Warriors, who recently moved two places down the continental rankings into 26th position, will once against be haunted by their poor ranking.
FIFA had to factor in all the international tournaments and matches, played during the three-month period between May and August, to come up with the latest rankings.
The Warriors failed to utilise the FIFA window, for international friendlies in June, but were involved in the COSAFA Cup in South Africa, last month.
The team returned home without a win, after drawing two and losing the other two, group matches. Zimbabwe lost four ranking points and now have 1172 points.
“Based on this ranking, the top four teams will be allocated to Pot 1 along with the hosts, Cameroon and title holders Algeria,” said CAF in a statement.
“The remaining 18 teams will be allocated to the three remaining pots (Pots 2, 3 and 4) according to their ranking in descending order.
“The four pots representing the teams will be labelled Pots 1 to 4. The six pots representing the groups will be labelled groups A to F.
“A ball from a team pot will be drawn, followed by a ball from one of the group Pots, thus determining the position in which the respective team will play.
“Cameroon will be pre-assigned to position A1 as hosts. The remaining five teams in Pot 1 will automatically be drawn into position 1 of each group (B to F).
“The same procedure will be repeated for the remaining pots.”
Pot 1 has hosts Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
Egypt headline Pot 2, which also has Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
Zimbabwe are joined in Pot 3 by Cape Verde, Gabon, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau. These are the only teams the Warriors are guaranteed they will not play.
Then Pot 4 has Malawi, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Comoros, Ethiopia and Gambia.
The Warriors have met the Desert Foxes of Algeria, at regular intervals, including at the AFCON finals. The two teams were in the same group, which also featured Zambia and Botswana, during the qualifiers.
The Algerians dominated the group, only dropping points in the two away games against Zimbabwe and Zambia, and winning the rest of the qualifiers.
They battered Zambia in a five-goal hammering, in Algeria, before the two countries featured in a thrilling draw, in Lusaka.
They beat the Warriors 3-1, in Algeria, before the two teams settled for a 2-2 draw, at the National Sports Stadium, in Harare.
At the 2017 AFCON finals, in Gabon, Algeria and Zimbabwe drew their group game by a similar scoreline. The tournament is scheduled to run from January 9 to February 6, 2022, with the opening match taking place at the newly-built Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé.
A total of 52 matches will be played across five cities in Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, Garoua and Limbe.
Online Reporter