AFCON
AFRICAN CHAMPIONS, ALGERIA MAINTAIN UNBEATEN RUN, ZIMBABWE QUALIFIES
Already qualified for Africa Cup of Nations, Cameroon 2021, defending champions Algeria kept their unbeaten record intact with an away thrilling 3-3 draw to Zambia in Lusaka, to retain top spot of Group H with one game to spare.
The draw in Lusaka meant Zimbabwe guaranteed qualification to the AFCON finals, having beaten Botswana 1-0 in a simultaneous kickoff in Gaborone.
Perfect Chikwende scored what proved to be the game’s lone goal after 14 minutes, as Zimbabwe raised their tally to 8 points, four more than Botswana and Zambia to guarantee their place in Cameroon next January.
Meanwhile in Lusaka, reigning African champions Algeria took the lead three times against Zambia, only to finish the six-goal thriller with a point each.
As early as the fourth minute, Mehdi Abeid shot rebounded from the crossbar. Islam Slimani narrowly missed the opening goal after 10 minutes from Baghdad Bounedjah cross.
The Zambians replied through Mouabe whose header narrowly missed the goal after 16 minutes.
Two minutes later, Slimani’s cross found Rachid Ghezzal who opened the scoring for the visitors.
Zambia tried to find an immediate equalizer, and Luka Banda shot found a superb save from Algeria’s goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi.
Slimani turned from provider to scorer when he doubled Algeria’s lead from Ghezzal’s cross after 26 minutes.
But Zambia did not give up, and halved the deficit after 34 minutes when Patson Daka scored from the spot, as the first half ended 2-1 for the visitors’ favor.
After the break, the game was a lively see-saw affair. Zambia found the equalizer at 52nd minute when Clatos Chama’s header from Mulenga cross went behind Mbolhi to make it 2-2.
Two minutes later, Slimani completed his brace for the night, scoring from Bounedjah cross.
Djamel Belmadi thought his men grabbed another victory, but Zambia restored parity once again, and it was Daka from the spot once more after 80 minutes.
Algeria, who extended their unbeaten run to 23 games, raised their tally to 11 points to guarantee Group H top spot.
On the final match day, Algeria will host Botswana while Zimbabwe faces Zambia in Harare.
Faced with internal challenges that include players’ injuries and boycotts, the Libyan coach, Nasser Al-Hadhiri is believed by local press as facing a ‘near-impossible mission’ in Nigeria.
“The team’s mission against Nigeria seems almost impossible. The Nigerian team has a strong squad, led by names such as Ademola Lookman and Victor Boniface, which makes the task more difficult for the Libyan team”, Akhbarlibya24 editorialised.
It further reported that despite the difficult situation, the Libyan coach, Nasser Al-Hadhiri remains somewhat optimistic, as he hopes to achieve a positive result. He remarked: “We realize that winning against Nigeria is difficult, but we seek to return with a draw that will be positive for us and restore our hope in competing for qualification.”
According to Libya’s news outlets, there are palpable fears in the Libya national team which faces successive crises and trying to avoid early elimination from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.
The team which faces the Super Eagles this week has been plagued with players’ absences occasioned by injuries and boycotts.
The coach recently appointed has revealed the names of players refusing to represent the national team.
In a press conference held on Saturday, Coach Nasser Al-Hadhiri remarked that the absence of several players were due to real injuries.
In that class are Ahmed Al-Tarbi, a defender of Ahli Tripoli; Mohammed Al-Tabbal of Al-Nasr club and Ali Youssef who also suffered the injury while playing with Tunisia’s Club Africaine.
If the Libyan national team sticks to plans, the players are expected to have arrived in Nigeria ahead of their Friday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying duel in Uyo.
With most players drawn from the domestic league, the national team had daily training sessions in Tripoli under coach Nasser Al-Hadhiri and his assistants Akram Al-Hammami and Abu Bakr Al-Hark.
However, according to media sources in Libya, the team faces injury worries even though the absence of Victor Osimhen in the Nigerian squad is being celebrated.
Even though it did not mention the injured Libyan players, Libya Al-Ahrar Channel reports that replacements were found in Al-Tahadi FC defender, Mohammed Khalil and Al-Nasr midfielder, Abdullah Abdul Rahim as well as Al-Akhdar winger, Faraj Ghaidhan. They take the places of the absent regular players.
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