Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, says he is optimistic that Nigeria will win the forthcoming Africa Nations Championship to boost the country’s FIFA world ranking. Oliseh made the declaration via a message he sent through the Eagles Media Officer, Toyin Ibitoye, on Tuesday in Abuja. Oliseh, who has expressed concern over Nigeria’s low position in the FIFA table, expressed his desire to go for the trophy in order to improve Nigeria’s status and also attract FIFA’s proper attention to the competition.
He said, “The Nigeria Football Federation and the Eagles coach Oliseh are taking CHAN very seriously because it has become an internationally recognised competition, which means that it can affect the FIFA ranking. It is hoped CHAN can be used to improve the Eagles ranking before draws for the 2018 World Cup in June.”
The CHAN tournament is scheduled to take place in Rwanda from January 16 to February 7, 2016.
Oliseh, who is in Belgium, stated that the team would do better than they did at the 2014 edition, when Nigeria left South Africa as the third best team.
No clear date has been announced for the players to begin the final camping but it is expected that they will reassemble in December. The team, made up only of the players from the Nigerian league, defeated their Burkina Faso opponents to qualify for the Rwandan finals.
Meanwhile, NFF officials have confirmed that the U-23 national team will on Wednesday depart Banjul, Gambia, where they have been camping for the past 10 days for the CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations billed for Senegal. The secretary of the team, Sirajo Hassan, said the delegation, made up of 23 players and 10 officials, would depart the Banjul International Airport at about 11pm aboard an Arik airline flight for the 30 minutes flight to Dakar. The U-23 team are expected to play their last friendly game against the Gambian U-20 side, on Wednesday by 4pm local time (5pm Nigerian time) before heading to the airport.
The team on arrival in Dakar will then proceed to Mbour, venue of their first two Group B games. The Nigerians will begin their quest to qualify for the Rio Olympics when they take on West African rivals Mali on Sunday at the Caroline Faye Stadium, in Mbour.
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