DURBAN, South Africa – Zimbabwe left themselves with a mountain to climb in Group C of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers after a 2-2 draw with Benin at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban left them rooted at the bottom of the table.
Washingtom Arubi’s howler after 12 minutes gifted Benin their opener and miscommunication at the heart of the defence allowed the visitors to double their lead on 35 minutes.
Playing their home match in South Africa because Zimbabwe has no match venue meeting FIFA standards, Zimbabwe dominated the early exchanges before the 39-year-old Arubi attempted a chipped clearance which horribly went wrong as Dodo Dokou intercepted the ball with his head and found an unmarked Steve Mounie who slotted home.
The goal knocked the wind out of Zimbabwe’s sails and the Warriors found themselves two goals down after a flowing move by Benin, and some poor marking by the defence, ended with Dokou finding the target.
But just as Benin threatened to run away with it, Marshall Munetsi hauled the Warriors back into contention after being found by Jordan Zemura inside the visitors’ box. His rising shot halved the deficit and changed Michael Nees’ halftime team-talk.
The Warriors returned from the break refreshed and were level just before the hour mark as Zemura’s clever free-kick found the returning Knowledge Musona who had peeled away from the Benin defensive wall. As the angle narrowed, Musona let go a sizzling low shot which squeezed between Marcel Dandjinou and his left post.
Nees admitted the fightback from two goals down took too much energy out of his players.
He reflected: “The character was good for the team. And the match was on the edge. We risked more and more for the longer it went. And of course, it could have gone either way, but we wanted to win.
“We tried everything, and I think we can go home with that feeling.”
The draw lifted group leaders Benin to eight points while Zimbabwe remain on three after five matches.
The gap to the top could widen to seven points if either Rwanda or South Africa win on Sunday.
The Warriors travel to the Nigeria on Tuesday knowing that defeat would end all their hopes of qualifying for their first ever World Cup final.
