Eagles know AFCON opponents today

Three-time African champions Nigeria will on Thursday (today) know their group stage opponents when the draw ceremony for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations holds in Abidjan, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Super Eagles’ drop in the latest FIFA rankings saw them seeded in Pot 2 and they are destined to face either hosts Ivory Coast or any of the top four African countries.

With the large number of North African countries in Pot 1, the Eagles chances of being paired alongside either Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria are very high.

While the probability of coming up against the Maghreb nations is very high, the Eagles could equally find themselves in the same group with Ivory Coast or Senegal.

The Eagles’ other likely opponents will emerge from Pots 3 and 4.

In Pot 3 are Cape Verde, who have improved astronomically in the past few years, 2012 champions Zambia, South Africa, who were the 1996 champions as well as Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania.

Nigeria are definitely bound to face one of these six countries.

Pot 4 contains the lowest-ranked teams in the competition.

Angola, hosts in 2010, are together with Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Namibia, The Gambia and Tanzania.

The Eagles are no stranger to any of the countries in the four pots and will be fully aware of their potential and threats.

In the last two editions of the AFCON — 2019 and 2021 — the Eagles have had confrontations with three of the top four from North Africa – Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia.

Morocco are the only team the Eagles have not confronted in recent times, with both sides last meeting at senior January 27, 2004 during the AFCON in Tunisia.

Morocco won the Group D opener 1-0.

The Eagles and the Pharaohs were in the same Group D last time in Garoua, Cameroon with Nigeria coming out victorious. The Eagles, after winning all three group matches, lost to Tunisia in the Round of 16.