SPORTS: Nigeria drawn with Egypt, Tanzania and Chad in AFCON 2017 qualifiers

Nigeria and Egypt who failed to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations along with Tanzania and Chad were yesterday drawn in Group G of the 2017 edition whose qualification matches are slated to begin in June.



By this arrangement, either of Super Eagles or the Pharaohs will be missing again when the finest of Africa’s football nations gather on Gabon for the kick off of the biennial continental showpiece.

Although there is still a faint chance for the two teams to qualify with the winner of the group picking the automatic ticket while the group runners up can still sneak into the tournament as one of the two over all best runners up.
The Pharaohs have clashed with Nigeria 17 times at full international level with the Egyptians winning six and drawing six of these meetings.
Egypt beat the Eagles 3-2 in their last clash in April 2012.
Ex international, Garba Lawal in his reaction yesterday was not worried about Egypt, insisting that the Pharaohs have the same problems that made it impossible for them to qualify for the last AFCON.

“Egypt will always be a great team. They have had their problems partly because of the political problems affecting the country. They appear to be overcoming these problems and will push Nigeria for top spot,” he noted.

He however refused to go with the general impressions that both Tanzania and Chad will be easy prey for the Eagles.
“Both Tanzania and Chad will not be pushovers as every country now knows how to play football.
“We can’t afford to play for one of the ‘second-best’ spots. We have to top this group and as such we have to be fully prepared to do battles,” warned Lawal.
Gabon meanwhile would play host to the 2017 AFCON finals.. thereby gaining automatic qualification.