Eagles won’t underrate Djibouti —Oliseh
Sunday Oliseh
Super
Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has said his team will not underrate any
opponent as Nigeria brace up to face either Djibouti or Swaziland in the
second round qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Nigeria have a bye in the first round,
alongside 26 other teams, as revealed in the preliminary draw held in
St.Petersburg, Russia on Saturday.
The Super Eagles will begin their
campaign for a place at the 2018 finals in November, away to the winners
of the Djibouti vs. Swaziland first round playoff.
Nigeria are ranked 57th in the current
FIFA ranking, while Swaziland and Djibouti are ranked138th and 207th
respectively. But while expressing his joy at the draw, Oliseh would
rather not dismiss any opponent as minnows.
“I
am happy with the draw. We are not playing the first round, which is a
preliminary round. We will also be playing the first leg of the second
round away which means we have an advantage of playing the more crucial
return leg at home, in front of our fans,” Oliseh said on the Nigeria
Football Federation website.
The 40-year-old former international
warned against complacency, admitting that there are dangerous teams
that could spring surprises if taken for granted.
“Djibouti and Swaziland need to be given
the respect that they deserve and either of them that we face in the
second round will not be underrated. We respect every team and we will
battle anyone that emerges with our full strength,” the former Borussia
Dortmund midfielder said.
“With the draw now concluded, we can
safely say that the race to Russia has officially started. I am
optimistic we will run this race very well. We will give it our very
best and pray it will be good enough to get us one of the five slots
available for Africa.”
Oliseh will lead the Super Eagles to his
first competitive match as the coach when they regroup in September to
visit the Taifa Stars in Tanzania for a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations
qualifying match. He also plans to release a provisional team list for
the match in August.
And ahead of the game against Tanzania,
the Eagles coach is reportedly seriously considering capping Flying
Eagles stars Musa Mohammed and Kelechi Iheanacho.
A top team official informed AfricanFootball.com that
Oliseh is rebuilding with the future in mind and as such he wants to
start working immediately with Musa, Iheanacho as well as Moses Simon,
who has already been capped by the Eagles.
“The top three Flying Eagles stars under
consideration by the Eagles coach are Musa at rightback as well as
Iheanacho and Moses Simon in attack,” the official said.
“Oliseh already is very much abreast of the exploits with Moses Simon at Gent as he followed him last season.
“He has also followed Musa and Iheanacho
when he was on the FIFA study group for the 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup,
which Nigeria won in style in Abu Dhabi.”
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