OWN CORRESPONDENT, Asmara | Sunday 6.00pm.
THE Eritrea bubble burst when they lost 1-0 against Zimbabwe in Asmara on Sunday in the first of six mini-league matches to decide the final qualifier for the 2000 African Nations Cup.
Veteran Swiss-based striker Adam Ndlovu scored the winner after 25 minutes before a capacity 10000 crowd crammed into the National Stadium on a cool, cloudless afternoon in the East African capital.
Defeat was a bitter blow to Eritrean hopes of reaching the biennial finals at the first attempt just 12 months after being admitted to international controlling body FIFA. The mini-league also includes Senegal and resulted from Zimbabwe losing the right to host the 2000 finals due to inadequate preparations. Ghana and Nigeria will co-host the showcase of African football instead.
Holders Egypt, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Morocco, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia have already qualified.
Zimbabwe are the only country among the top 20 African football nations never to play in the tournament and success in the Horn of Africa justified the optimism of Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof that they can win the group.
The winner will not be a contender for goal of the year as a scramble ended with an attempted clearance by Eritrean defender Efrem Tewolde rebounding off Ndlovu and trickling into the net. Kingstone Rinemhota, Gilbert Mushangazhike and Agent Sawu wasted other good scoring chances for the visitors, who had an inspirational captain in defender Norman Mapeza.