Home Eagles May Battle Ghana -As CHAN 2014 Draw Holds Today Nigeria’s home-based national team look headed for a head-on collision with Ghana at next year’s Championship of African Nations (CHAN), as the Eagles are not seed for today’s draw in Cairo, Egypt, unlike their West Coast Anglophone rivals. Ghana’s home-based squad are heading into today’s draw as one of the seeds, following their past exploits in the competition meant for players plying their trade in their countries, with one of their biggest achievements being how they stopped Nigeria from qualifying for the maiden edition in 2009. The home-based Eagles, then coached by current Rangers International of Enugu handler, Felix Okey Emordi, lost the first leg by a slim margin of 3-2 and only needed a goal at home in Calabar to nick the ticket to the maiden CHAN in Cote d’Ivoire. However, that did not materialize, as the game at U.J. Esuene Stadium ended goalless, leaving Nigeria falling short on aggregate scores, while the introduction of Kabiru Musa, Chibuzor Okonkwo and Stephen Worgu did not pay off. Ahead of same game in The Canaan City, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) drafted former Eagles coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, and ex-international, Henry Nwosu to the home-based Eagles’ technical crew to assist Emordi, but the effort failed to yield result. Ghana will now hold unto that historic feat going into today’s draw, with pundits believing they hold the advantage, as Black Stars will head Group C and will draw an opponent from Pot 2 which has Gabon, Mali, Libya and Uganda. Either Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia and Nigeria can be drawn from Pot 3 against the Ghanaians, whose last Group opponent will be drawn from Pot 4 – which will have Congo, Mauritania, Morocco and Mozambique. The Confederation of African Football ranked the 15 qualifiers-with the exception of hosts South Africa, ranked countries based on their performances during the first two editions in 2009 and 2011. Points were awarded for each of the last two African Nations Championship final tournaments, but South Africa are automatically in Group A, with 2009 winners DR Congo in Group B and Zimbabwe heading Group D. Another huge threat for Nigeria should they meet Ghana is that the Black Stars were losing finalists in the inaugural tournament hosted by Ivory Coast in 2009. However, the current Stars’ squad, handled by Maxwell Konadu, qualified without kicking a ball following Benin’s withdrawal from the qualifiers for CHAN 2014, which will be played from January 11 to February 1 in four cities - Polowane, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Kimberly.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:49:52 +0000
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