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Sikhumbuzo Moyo in Cairo, Egypt
ZIMBABWE and Uganda might go into the drawing of lots to determine the second-placed team at the end of the Group A matches tonight if the two sides win and lose by particular score line margins.
Zimbabwe Warriors collide with the Democratic Republic of Congo at 30 June Stadium in a match that will kick-off at the same time with the Egypt and Uganda encounter at Cairo International Stadium where the Warriors need nothing short of victory coupled with a Ugandan loss to The Pharaohs to stand any chance of making it into the round of 16, a first for the Southern African nation.
A win for Zimbabwe will take their points tally to four, the same as The Cranes of Uganda in the event that they lose to Egypt. Now the drawing of lots will come if the Warriors win by two goals to nil and Egypt beat Uganda by a single goal to nil as that will leave both teams with the same goal aggregate as well as the same number of goals scored and conceded.
Zimbabwe lost their opening match 0-1 to Egypt and drew one apiece with Uganda while The Cranes beat DRC 2-0 in their opening match.
According to the tournament rules, article 74 on the tie breakers for group stage;
74.2. In case of equality between more than two teams at the end of the group matches, the teams will be ranked according to the following criteria in the order listed below;
74.2.1 The greatest number of points obtained in the matches between the teams concerned
74.2.3 The best goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned
74.2.4 If after applying criteria 74.2.1 to 74.2.3, two teams are still tied, 74.2.1 to 74.2.3 criteria are again applied to matches played between the two teams in question to determine the final ranking of the two teams. If this procedure does not allow separating them, the criteria listed from 74.2.5 to 74.2.7 are applied in the indicated order;
74.2.5 The goal difference in all group matches, 74.2.6 The greatest number of goals in all group matches, 74.2.7 A drawing of lots conducted by the organizing committee.
If Zimbabwe loses on the drawing of lots they will settle for third place and wait for the outcome of other group matches to see if they qualify as one of four best-placed fourth teams.
While the Warriors are yet to progress through the group stages of the tournament, their opponents tonight are two times African Champions, having won their debut trophy in 1968 and won it against in 1974.
Most recently, they were the third best team in 2015 and in the last tournament in 2017 they exited at the quarter-finals stage.
Online Reporter