By Adeyinka Akintunde, Lagos on November 24, 2015

For the first time in history, all the teams that qualified for the final stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup elimination series in Africa got drawn bye into the second round of the exercise by virtue of their FIFA rating.

That has therefore sent the signal that there will be no easy group. The implication of this is that all the teams will be at the throat of each other when the group matches, which will mark the final qualifying round, begin in October 2016.

This is unlike the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, where 10 teams qualified for the final round, and were only made to face each other on a knockout basis, after the first and second rounds. These teams were the group winners from the second round of the qualifiers as follows: Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria that eventually represented Africa in the Brazil edition, with Algeria having the best of outing, a quarter-final loss to ultimate champions, Germany.

The draw for the final round in Africa for Russia 2018 will be conducted based on the latest FIFA rankings as at when the draw will hold. This means that if the draw holds before the December 2015 ranking is released, Nigeria will be in the third pot, and is likely to face any of the strong oppositions from Pot 1, which will include West African rivals Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal as well as Algeria. Cape Verde Islands will also be in that top seed going by their current FIFA ranking. In Pot 2 will be Tunisia, Cameroon and Guinea, as well as Congo Republic and DR Congo. 

Nigerians have every reason to see this news as scary, judging by the recent performances of the Sunday Oliseh-led Super Eagles. Under his watch, Nigeria won one competitive match against Swaziland and another friendly against Cameroon. The team lost a friendly game to DR Congo and played goalless with Tanzania on away ground.

If Nigeria must get to Russia, the team must improve on their recent form. Uninspiring performances from the team, especially on the first match day of the qualifiers in (Swaziland), may cost the squad a place at the World Cup finals.

As usual, teams would keenly contest to be at the World Cup. Teams like Uganda, Zambia (AFCON 2012 winners) and Guinea would believe that since they could make it this far, they can upset the “big boys” in Africa, and go on to the world stage for the first time, just like Togo and Angola did in 2006. Interestingly, Angola knocked out Nigeria in the final qualifying round for the 2006 World Cup, the only time the Super Eagles missed out of the fiesta since they first qualified in 1994.

•Photo: Super Eagles gaffer Sunday Oliseh and his boys have to buckle up if they are to make it to the Russia 2018 World Cup.

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 24, 2015

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