Shah Alma, Malaysia — THE Zimbabwe Select will have an eye on a semi-final spot in the 2007 Merdeka Cup when they take on a Bangladesh side searching for its maiden victory in this tournament in 24 years in their final group match at the 100 000-seater Shah Alma Stadium here tonight.

Sunday Chidzambwa's men bounced back from their 2-4 hiding -- courtesy of a shock first-half performance -- at the hands of Singapore in their first game to beat Indonesia 2-1 on Thursday night.

Now they face a Bangladesh side, which has lost both their opening two matches, here tonight knowing that a victory could take them into the semi-finals for a possible date against defending champions Myanmar.

Zimbabwe have three points -- the same as Indonesia -- but Chidzambwa's men are in third place courtesy of an inferior goal difference while Singapore, who have won both their opening games, lead the table with six points.

Singapore have a goal difference of plus three -- having scored six goals and conceded three.

Indonesia have a goal difference of zero -- having scored two goals and conceded as many goals.

Zimbabwe have a goal difference of minus one -- having scored four goals and conceded five.

What this means is that a Zimbabwean victory will take their goal difference into the positive zone but a 1-0 winning margin might not be enough to carry them through into the semi-finals.

So what do the permutations look like?

Zimbabwe will qualify for the semi-finals should they win, by any margin, against Bangladesh tonight while Indonesia fail to beat Singapore in the other group match which will be played at the same time.

Zimbabwe will qualify, irrespective of the result in the other match between Singapore and Indonesia, if they beat Bangladesh by, at least, a three-goal winning margin.

Zimbabwe will qualify if they are held by Bangladesh and Indonesia fall at the hands of Singapore.

Zimbabwe will still qualify, even if they lose to Bangladesh by a narrow margin, and Indonesia are thrashed by Singapore.

Interestingly even Singapore -- who lead the group with six points -- could still fail to qualify for the semi-finals.

For if Singapore lose by a three-goal margin and then Zimbabwe win their match against Bangladesh by, at least, a two-goal margin, then the Warriors Select and Indonesia will go through.

Chidzambwa's men would have saved themselves the difficult assignment of using calculators if they had taken the chances that came their way in the match against Indonesia.

Somehow they won the game 2-1 with goals from man-of-the-match Mtshumayeli Moyo and Phillip Marufu when the true story should have been a scoreline of about 5-1 had they used all the chances they created.

But that is all part of the past now.

The immediate challenge tonight is to beat

Bangladesh, who have made life difficult for both Singapore and Indonesia in the two games they have played so far in this tournament.

Bangladesh, who enjoy great support from the large numbers of their nationals who are immigrant workers here, were unlucky to lose 0-1 at the hands of Indonesia in their first game and then lost 1-2 in their next match against Singapore.

Now they come up against Zimbabwe.

The Warriors Select would be without rookie Eastern Lions' midfielder Eusebio Manuwere, one of the emerging players who has been a big hit in the domestic Premiership this season.

Manuwere is ineligible for this tie after accumulating two yellow cards in the first two matches.

But organising the defence is Chdzambwa's specialty.

In the game against Indonesia he threw in combative Black Rhinos defensive pillar Menard Mupera into the fold and he turned on a good performance -- first as a makeshift left-back and then in central midfield.

Now Mupera could again start from the left side of midfield.

Chidzambwa is short on personnel after midfielder Ramson Zhuwawo was barred from entering Singapore on his emergency travel document while three other players he had called for camp failed to travel because of complications surrounding their travel documents.

He has only 14 players and the absence of Manuwere means that there will be 13 players to battle for the Warriors Select cause tonight.

Chidzambwa wants his team to continue from where they left against Indonesia and revealed that he will again give Moyo a deeper striking role alongside chief marksman Marufu.

Moyo has been a huge success here and chances are that he could be plying his trade here should negotiations that are currently underway result in him landing a deal to play for a local side.

Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have met before but not in this sporting discipline.

Now and again, the two nations have fought some fascinating cricket battles.

Tonight they meet on a football pitch knowing that defeat could send either of them packing their bags and heading home.

Bangladesh are ranked number 172 on the Fifa world rankings and, two or three years ago, they would have been considered easy prey for any representative Zimbabwe team.

But things have changed and with the Warriors on a free-fall on the Fifa rankings, they are now number 101, there is now very little that separates them from the minnows of world football like Bangladesh.

Like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh have a number of international fixtures running concurrently with the Merdeka Cup and some of their first-team players are in India for the Nehru Cup

Others are here for this tournament in a team that is a mixture of some established players and some who are filtering into the national team.

Hassan Al Mamun leads the team which has a number of veterans like Hassan Al Mamun, Matiur Munna, Parvez Babu and Saifur Rahman Moni.

Bangladesh are taking part in the tournament for the fourth time and they have only won one match in 19 previous attempts and that victory came 24 years ago.

That was against Nepal when the Bangladesh side beat Nepal 1-0 in the 1983 edition of the Merdeka Cup.

That's a long time ago but against Singapore on Thursday they showed a lot of determination and were unlucky to lose that game.

Bangladesh's best showing in this tournament came 34 years ago when they drew with both Thailand and Singapore.

But two years later they had a nightmare.

They suffered huge defeats at the hands of Burma, who thrashed them 1-7, and Hong Kong, who destroyed them 1-9.

But all that came from a distant past.

Now Bangladesh have a chance to post a memorable victory tonight.

The Merdeka Cup is held to commemorate Malaysia's independence and Zimbabwe were invited on the strength of their strong political ties with the East Asian nation.

Malaysia is celebrating its 50th independence anniversary this year and a number of special events -- including the football tournament -- have been organised to mark the Golden Jubilee.

Chidzambwa believes that while winning the tournament will be good for the Zimbabwe Select, it's the learning exercise that is more important.

"We have brought what you can call a 'C' team," he told the media on Thursday night.

"Our A team is the one that has all the European-based professionals like Benjani while our B team played in Mozambique this week.

"What we have here are not even the best players we have back home. But we have a competitive team and we are here to try and win the tournament.

"We have also learnt a lot from our travels in Africa and Europe and it's good that we are also now learning a lot about Asian football," said Chidzambwa.

He also revealed that there were a lot of agents interested in Moyo.

"They were asking me in the media conference where Mtshumayeli Moyo plays his football and they could not believe it when I told them that he plays for a Zimbabwean team.

"They have showed their willingness to sign him but that is for him and his club officials to sort out," said Chidzambwa.

The Warriors Select head of delegation Godfrey Japajapa said Zimbabwe were happy to be involved in Malaysia's independence celebrations.

"We are brotherly nations and we are happy to be here to learn a lot about Malaysia and we have had a good time so far.

"We also hope to win this tournament."

The winners of the tournament will take home a cool US$10 000 cash prize.

Teams

Zimbabwe: E. Sibanda, E. Tembo, M. Mupera, P. Musepa, T. Sweswe, L. Mtizwa, J. Ngodzo (captain), M. Moyo, P. Marufu, A. Sadiki, B. Chikaka.

Bangladesh: Mohammad Mazharul Islam Himel, Amit Khan Shuvra, Hasan Al Mamun (captain), Mahmudul Hasan, Arafat Ali, Mostofa Anowar Parvez, Anamul Hoque Sharif, Saifur Rahman Moni, Zumratul Islam Mithu, Motiur Rahman Munna, G M Mamun.