The Chronicle

BULAWAYO, Monday, December 21, 1992 — Zimbabwe pronounced themselves as one of the giants of the African continent by beating the highly rated northern Africans, Egypt, 2-1 in a Group C African Zone World Cup soccer qualifier at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

After playing second fiddle to the Egyptians for the past 12 years, Zimbabwe broke their jinx by beating the 1990 World Cup finalists for the first time.

Goals by Coventry City striker Peter Ndlovu in the 46th minute and by Agent Sawu in the 50th minute were enough for the Zimbabweans to overcome their more illustrious opponents.

But after Egypt scored their only goal through their hard-running striker Ahmed Abdizi in the 64th minute many Zimbabweans must have held their breath until the final whistle as the visitors mounted a late challenge.

And were it not for the brilliant goalkeeping by Liverpool goalminder Bruce Grobbelaar in the closing stages of the game, the match could have ended in a draw.

In the 71st minute Grobbelaar stretched full length to parry Ashrat Kasemi’s effort for a corner from an indirect kick.

Grobbelaar came to the rescue again a few moments before close of the game when he stopped Hassam Hassan’s point blank range shot after the Zimbabwe defence were caught at sixes and sevens.

After a start in the first half in which Zimbabwe conceded a number of corners Peter Ndlovu ignited life into the match with a superbly executed goal. Ndlovu appeared to be tightly marked by the visitors’ defence, but in a flash he turned on his marker and let go a screamer which gave goalkeeper Ahmed Shobeir no chance.