GABON are convinced that Zimbabwe will be fielding AJ Auxerre striker Benjani Mwaruwari when the two teams clash in Sunday's 2006 World Cup/Nations Cup Group Four qualifier at the National Sports Stadium. The west Africans, who have been in camp in Sandton, Johannesburg since last week, are expected in Harare today and team manager Alex Nguekou Bouelangoye said yesterday they were preparing a team to play Zimbabwe with Mwaruwari in the fold. ABouelangoye said they do not trust the media reports from Zimbabwe that Mwaruwari will miss Sunday's game to feature for Auxerre in the French Cup final on Saturday. Instead they are somewhat convinced that it's part of mind games being played in Zimbabwe to distract them in their final preparations for the crunch qualifier.

"Zimbabwe is a good side and we respect them. But God knows we are going to win. We are aware that you (Zimbabwe) have two very good players, Benjani of Auxerre and the little one (Peter Ndlovu) now playing here for Sundowns.

"Although your newspapers have reported that Benjani is not coming, we know that he is coming. Yes, he is coming," said Bouelangoye.

He, however, declined to give details about the Gabonese squad, saying it was dominated by locally-based players while two foreign-based professionals were expected to join camp last night. A delegation of 20 players and 10 officials is expected in Harare today.

The team, which has been conducting two practice sessions everyday since arriving in the plush Sandton last week, is coached by former Brazilian star Ventura Defilho Jairzinho.

Both teams, together with Algeria, are fighting for a third place finish in Group Four which will be a ticket for next year's Nations Cup finals in Egypt.

Zimbabwe are currently occupying third place with eight points from six games while Gabon are fourth with six points together with Algeria.

A Gabonese win will take the visitors above Zimbabwe while a home win will give the Warriors a five-point cushion over their rivals with three more matches remaining.

While Gabon can make do with even a draw, Sunday's game is a must-win for Zimbabwe as they have two tough away matches against Algeria and Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Mwaruwari's dream move to Lyon in the off-season appears bleak as the French champions' new coach Gerard Houllier is looking to England for possible acquisitions.

Media reports from England yesterday indicated that Houllier had Czech Republic striker Milan Baros, the player he brought to newly-crowned European champions Liverpool in 2001, as his main target

Baros seems to be out of favour with Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez and has already been linked with possible moves to Spain, with former La Liga champions Valencia leading the race.

Also targeted by Houllier is said to be recently capped England striker Peter Crouch of Southampton and there was no mention of Mwaruwari.