The Super Eagles may have been handed a
testy run to the next African cup as Nigeria and Egypt were drawn
together in Group G for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in the
draw held on Wednesday in Cairo. Cameroon and South Africa are in Group
M as the two groups became about the major in the highlights of the
Wednesday’s event by the Confederation of African Football in Egypt.
The other teams in Nigeria’s group are
Tanzania and Chad, while the Cameroonians and South Africans will
contend with Gambia and Mauritania.
Egypt have won the biennial Cup of
Nations tournament a record seven times, Cameroon four times, Nigeria
three times and South Africa once. On paper, the Egyptians look like the
only threat to Nigeria in the qualifying group, but Nigerian fans may
not be able to stake their cash this time on the team so confidently
going by their failure to qualify for the 2015 edition and considering
the recent poor form the Eagles have exhibited in some international
friendlies.
There are 13 groups for the qualifying
series and only the winners are guaranteed places at the
January/February 2017 competition now confirmed to hold in Gabon. Only
the best two runners-up will join the group winners in qualifying.
Defending champions Ivory Coast face
Sudan and Sierra Leone in Group I, which also includes Gabon. However,
matches against automatic qualifiers Gabon count as friendlies with no
points awarded. The Gabonese were in the run for the qualifiers before
they were named as hosts also on Wednesday.
Ghana, who won the last of four Cup of Nations titles 33 years ago, are in Group H with Mozambique, Rwanda and Mauritius.
Morocco were originally barred from the
2017 qualifiers after refusing to host the tournament this year because
they feared supporters could bring the deadly Ebola Virus Disease into
the country. But the North African country successfully appealed against
the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The Moroccans were
placed in Group F with the Cape Verde Islands, Libya and Sao Tome e
Principe.
Tunisia were another country whose
participation was in doubt after accusing African governing body CAF of
bias following a controversial 2015 Cup of Nations quarter-final loss to
hosts Equatorial Guinea. They eventually apologised to CAF president
Issa Hayatou and are in Group A with Togo, Liberia and Djibouti.
Qualifying begins in June. Nigeria will open the qualifying campaign in June with the game at home against Chad.
http://www.punchng.com/sports/afcon-2017-%E2%80%8Bnigeria-to-face-egypt-chad/
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