Zimbabwe players celebrate their second goal

Angola's dream of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup were dealt a severe blow on Sunday when the Palancas Negras were beaten 2-0 by Zimbabwe in Harare.

The previously-unbeaten Angolans, who led Group Four before the weekend's action, were sunk by goals from substitute Shingirai Kawondera and Benjamin Mwaruwaru.

Kwaondera opened the scoring in the 59th minute when he drilled home from the edge of the box to delight the 45,000 home fans.

The Warriors, who maintain their hopes of a second consecutive Nations Cup by moving up to third place in the group, wrapped up the points when Mwaruwaru headed home a Joel Luphahla cross for his first international goal in four years.

The victory is the first for Zimbabwe coach Charles Mhlauri as well as the Warriors' first at home since beating Malawi in the Cosafa Cup final in October 2003.

Angola now trail Nigeria by two points at the top of Group Four, after the Super Eagles beat Gabon 2-0 in Port Harcourt on Saturday.

Yet the home side left it late with two goals in the last six minutes from Julius Aghahowa and substitute Nwankwo Kanu.

The Nigerians dominated much of the game and only several fine saves from Didier Ovono Ebang in the Gabon goal prevented the Super Eagles from taking the lead earlier.

Aghahowa performs a trademark somersault after scoring

However, Kanu came on as a substitute with ten minutes remaining to inspire his side to victory.

First, he set up Aghahowa after 84 minutes and then he scored a tap-in two minutes later as he converted Yakubu Ayegbeni's cross.

In Oran, Algeria recorded their first victory of the group stages of qualifying when beating Rwanda 1-0.

Mansour Boutabout scored the goal that lifts last year's Nations Cup quarter-finalists off the bottom of the table and into second place.

Rwanda now prop up Group Four with four points from six games, two points less than both Algeria and Gabon.