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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor

ZIMBABWE’S Warriors will have to repel more than £160 million in ferocious firepower, including from Africa’s most expensive footballer in history, to negotiate the treacherous landscape of the 2017 Nations Cup Group of Death.The Warriors were placed in the toughest possible group in Gabon where they will battle Algeria, who for the better part of this year were Africa’s top-ranked football nation, and the Lions of Teranga who have risen from the slumber – powered by some of the continent’s finest stars – to produce the best performance during the 2017 Nations Cup qualifiers.

Tunisia’ Carthage Eagles, winners of the 2004 Nations Cup, complete the trio of tough opponents the Warriors must deal with in Franceville next year, where Callisto Pasuwa and his men will be hoping to be two of the last nations standing when the group battles are completed.

Zimbabwe will be the only Southern African nation, and one of only three English-speaking countries, at the 2017 Nations Cup finals and Pasuwa’s troops will also battle to become the first group of Warriors to make it beyond the group stages of the Nations Cup finals.

But the grand expectations, boosted by a golden generation of players who qualified for Gabon with a game to spare, received a reality check on Wednesday when the Warriors were thrown into a very tough group where they will face opponents who will arrive at the 2017 Nations Cup with the quality to even win the tournament.

To underline their pedigree, Senegal – who have found a way back into the light after having lost their way in the aftermath of the euphoria surrounding their appearance at the 2002 World Cup finals where they reached the quarter-finals, having beaten world champions France along the way – were the best performing team during the qualifiers for Gabon.

The Lions of Teranga were the only nation to win all their six group games, completing their campaign with a perfect haul of 18 points, scoring 13 goals and conceding only two goals as they nullified the threat posed by Niger, Burundi and Namibia.

Critics will say their cause was helped, to a large extent, by a group that contained a number of lightweights but a team can only beat what is thrown in front them and, as shown by Swaziland’s remarkable campaign during the 2017 Nations Cup finals, the era of football lightweights on the continent has long passed.

What makes these Lions of Teranga such a dangerous, if not powerful force, is their impressive midfield, led by Mo Diame, who cost Newcastle United a cool £4.5 million to bring him into their ranks this season, and a strikeforce that is one of the deadliest on the continent.

Saido Mane, the forward who cost Liverpool £34 million, in the process becoming the most expensive African footballer in history, leads the line of attack and scored three goals during the qualifying campaign for a place in Gabon.

Then there is the bulldozing forward Moussa Sow, on loan at Turkish giants Fenerbahce, who last night took on Manchester United in the UEFA Europa Cup at Old Trafford, from Dubai club Al Ahli who splashed a cool £16 million for his signature.

A veteran who is now 30 years old, Sow was born in France but decided to play for his fatherland and during the 2010/2011 French top-flight league, he won the Golden Boot as he scored 25 league goals, and three assists, as he helped power Lille to their first league championship since 1954.

At the last Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea, he scored the Lions of Teranga’s winning goal in their 2-1 victory over the highly-fancied Ghana Black Stars in a group game.

Oumar Niasse is considered a talented forward that Everton were ready to part with £14 million to secure his services although he has yet to make the breakthrough that many expected when he arrived at the Toffees.

Other dangerous forwards in the Senegalese line-up include Stoke City’s Mame Briam Diouf, who once persuaded Alex Ferguson to pay £2 million to bring him to Old Trafford, before the footballers’ transfer market had gone crazy, while Keita Balde, at 21, is considered a rising forward at Italian side Lazio.

Battles between the Warriors and the Lions of Teranga have been few and far between since they introduced themselves to our world in stunning fashion, when the late Jules Francois Bocande powered them to a 3-0 victory over Zimbabwe in 1985, during a golden year for the dreadlocked forward who also helped his French side Metz eliminate Barcelona from the then UEFA Cup of Cup winners tournament.

Bocande also won the French top-flight league Golden Boot in 1985/1986 with 23 goals.

The other super team in Group B are the Desert Foxes of Algeria who have transformed themselves into one of the best sides on the continent and in Mahrez and Slimani have some of the best attacking players on the continent.

The Desert Foxes only dropped points in a draw against Ethiopia in their six qualifiers for the 2017 Nations Cup finals but the 25 goals they scored, including a 7-1 massacre of the Ethiopians in Algeria and a 6-0 trouncing of Lesotho, provided evidence of their attacking strength.

Slimani moved to Leicester City for about £30 million and scored four times during the qualifiers for the 2017 Nations Cup finals while Dinamo Zagreb forward, El Arabi Hillel Soudani, led the way with seven goals for the Algerians.

The last meeting between the Warriors and the Desert Foxes, at the Nations Cup finals, ended with Zimbabwe winning 2-1 in 2004 in Tunisia.

The Tunisians have always competed well at the Nations Cup finals and returns to West Africa desperate to make up for the disappointment they suffered at the last tournament when they led for large parts of their knockout game against Equatorial Guinea only for the hosts to scramble a late, dispute equaliser, and then win 2-1 after extra-time.

The Carthage Eagles, who rely mostly on home-based talent, won four, drew one and lost one of their qualifiers in a group that featured Togo, Liberia and Djibouti, finishing with 13 points.

If there is a team Pasuwa and his men can target, and fancy their chances, in this group, then the Tunisians – whose football has suffered from the Arab Spring – could be that side.

Historically, North African teams haven’t done well at the Nations Cup finals played in West Africa with only Egypt winning there when they beat Cameroon in the 2008 AFCON tournament in Ghana.

The giants of Group B will also arrive in Gabon burdened by expectations and this could weigh down heavily on them while, crucially, they will also cancel each other out when they meet.