The underdog Warriors of Zimbabwe has paired points with Benin when the visitors failed to defend their early 2-0 lead, pegging the Squirrels to a 2-2 draw during a pulsating 2026 World Cup Qualifier encounter at the National Sports Stadium on Thursday.
Recall that the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) had earlier released a statement, offering a sum of $300,000 to the Warriors if they become victorious in their WCQ games scheduled for March 20 and 25 against Benin and Nigeria.
The Cheetahs of Benin opened the scoresheet in the 12th minute when Steve Mounie found the back of the net, putting his side on a driver’s bus after a beautiful pass from Dodo Dokou. The Smouha SC 20-year-old young star Dokou doubled the effort in the 35th minute as Gernot Rohr’s men claimed a comfortable 2-0 lead. Thanks to a beautiful assist from Junior Olaitan.
Michael Nees’s Zimbabwe responded in the 44th minute when Jordan Zemura presented a scoring opportunity to Marshall Munetsi who fired a shot past Benin goalkeeper to bring the match to 2-1 in the first half.
Fourteen minutes into the second half, the hosts leveled the game after Knowledge Musona found himself on target in the 59th minute, delivering a 2-2 draw to his side.
The rest of the match saw the two sides pressing for more goals. However, several efforts were denied as none of the teams were allowed to be dominated by their opponents before the referee blew the final whistle as the showdown ended in a multiple goals 2-2 draw.
Despite their financial rewards, today’s draw has brought Zimbabwe’s hope of qualifying for their first ever World Cup campaign to reduced drastically as they sit in the bottom of group C table, having just three points after playing five out of their 10 games.
