Super Eagles will today know its opponents in the group stage of the 2013 Africa Ciupof Nations slated for South Africa when the draws are held in Durban this evening.
Nigeria qualified for the tournament after defeating Liberia Lone Star 6-1 in Calabar in the second leg of the last round of qualifying matches. The first leg in Monrovia ended 2-2.
According to earlier seedings released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Super Eagles is placed in Pot Two alongside Mali, Tunisia and Angola. Given the rules, the team will meet any of the four top seeded teams placed in Pot One. These are hosts South Africa, defending champions, Zambia, last year’s runners-up Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
According to the regulations of the competition, the host country, South Africa is the top seeded team of group A, while the title holders, Zambia is the top seeded team of group C.
Following seedings due to participation in last three editions of the championship, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are the other teams in Pot 1 and each of them, according to the regulations, will be the top seed in either Groups B or D depending on the outcome of the first stage of the draws.
Stage two of the draws will repartition the four teams in Pot 4 (DR Congo, Togo, Cape Verde and Ethiopia) in the four groups, while stage three of the draw shall involve the partition of the 4 teams in Pot 3 (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Niger) and stage four for the partition of the 4 teams in Pot 2(Mali, Tunisia, Angola and Nigeria).
But Keshi has restated that he is not worried about the teams that the draws would pit the team against tonight.
According to him, Super Eagles is strong enough to scare any team on its own.
"I have said it a lot of people and will say it again that I am not afraid of any team. You do not win a championship by being afraid of your opponents and that is the spirit I am taking to the draw.
"Let them bring on any team and the 'Super Eagles' will give their all. We have a team that all opponents - not just those in Africa - should be afraid of," Keshi said to pressmen recently.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles will play Palancres Negras (Black Panthers) of Angola in an international friendly match before the Nations Cup takes place in January, we have gathered.
Angola FA boss, Pedro Neto, who recently saluted the team for qualifying for the Nations Cup, confirmed this much.
The NFF is yet to officially confirm the friendly while the date and venue of the match has not been announced too.
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