Bunmi Ogunyale
Three-time African champions, the Super Eagles may be drawn against west African eternal rivals, Ivory Coast when the draw for 2022 FIFA World Cup hold later this month in Cairo, Egypt.
The Gernot Rohr side landed in Pot One of the draw after finishing as Africa’s third best team in the December edition of the FIFA World rankings.
By that Nigeria avoids other African top ranked sides like Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon and Morocco.
The Ahmed Musa led side in Pot One would have Ivory Coast, South Africa, Angola, Zambia, Benin Republic and Guinea to contend with for one of the slots for the Mundial in oil-rich Qatar.
The draw for the second round is slated for 21 January 2020, at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo, while the second round of CAF matches for World Cup qualification are played over 6 matchdays, from 23 March 2020 to 12 October 2021.
Nigeria has featured in six editions of World Cup since qualifying first ever in 1994 and have gone beyond second round of the tournament.