Nigeria Draws Mozambique, Egypt, Benin
By Olalekan Okusan
NIGERIA's Super Eagles will have another opportunity to clash against Mozambique's Black Mambas after both sides were drawn alongside defending champions, Egypt and Benin Republic in Group C of the Angola 2010 Nations Cup.
The draw, which was held at Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda, Angola pitched the Eagles in Group C with group matches billed for Benguela.
Mozambique's 1-0 victory over Tunisia in the last match of the South Africa 2010 World Cup Qualifiers aided the Super Eagles' berth to South Africa.
Eagles managed a 0-0 draw against Mozambique in Maputo while a dying-minute header from Obinna Nsofor helped Nigeria to beat the Black Mambas 1-0 at the Abuja International Stadium in October.
According to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Super Eagles' handler, Shaibu Amodu was present at the draw and said that on paper, Nigeria should emerge from Group C, but he added a word of caution: "There are no small teams in football anymore."
On his part, former Eagles' skipper, Sunday Oliseh described Nigeria's group as a "delicate" one. "Mozambique gave us a lot of hassles during qualifying rounds," he said. But he thanked Mozambique for helping Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup.
Mozambique's veteran player, Tico Tico said he thought it was a tough draw for his side. "We'll just have to compete and see what happens," he said.
"Egypt are the champions of Africa so that won't be easy but if we believe in ourselves, maybe we can spring some surprises. Nigeria and Egypt would seem the obvious teams to qualify but anything can happen," he added.
Host, Angola will play their group matches in Luanda alongside Mali, Malawi and Algeria in Group A. Angola will confront Mali in the opening game of the tournament on January 10.
Cote d'Ivoire is grouped with Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo in Group B and matches in the group will be played in Cabinda.
2008 runners-up, Cameroun are drawn alongside Gabon, Zambia and Tunisia in Group D and matches will take place in Lubango.
Being the 27th edition of Africa's showpiece football event, the tourney will hold from January 10 to 31.
The three-week tourney, the first to be hosted by the Southern African country, would take place in four cities - Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela and Lubango.
From the calendar released by CAF, the group phase matches will hold from January 10 to 21, followed by the knockout stages from January 24 to 25. The semi-finals have been fixed for January 28 in Luanda and Benguela, with the third place match also slated for Benguela two days later.
Luanda will host the final on Sunday, January 31. In all, 32 matches would be played.
