2017 AFCON: Egypt plot Nigeria’s fall
To begin camping next month
WHILE the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to officially name a coach for the senior national team, the Super Eagles, in preparation for African Nations Cup 2017 in Gabon, Egypt, their major foes in the group qualification are not leaving any stone unturned.
NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, declared two weeks ago that a two-year deal has been approved for out of contract coach of the team, Stephen Keshi to continue as Nigeria’s manager, but the coach is yet to sign the contract.
Keshi’s contract with the NFF ran out after last year’s World Cup in Brazil, where Nigeria crashed out in the second round and since then, his assistant, Daniel Amokachi, has been in charge of the Eagles on a temporary basis.
He has been acting since December, following the protracted contractual talks But, word coming out of Egypt has it that the Pharaohs have already gotten their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers preparations underway.
Nigeria have been drawn in Group G against Nigeria, Tanzania, and Chad during last week’s draw where the tournament will be hosted by Gabon. According to the Egyptian Football Association’s Alaa Abdel-Aziz, Coach Hector Cuper has decided to set June 13 as the date for the team’s opening qualifier at home against Tanzania.
“Cuper picked June 13 as the date for our first match against Tanzania, but no venue has been set yet,” said Abdel-Aziz. “He asked the EFA to hold a camp every month to get to know the players more, and we accepted this idea. “We will have another camp in May with a friendly match.
The last camp will be on June 8, to be followed by the match against Tanzania.” In his first match in charge of the Pharaohs, Egypt beat Afcon 2015 semi-finalist Equatorial Guinea 2-0 in a friendly last month. The seven-time continental champions are looking to end what would be a seven-year drought from African football’s showpiece event. Egypt failed to reach the previous edition of the continental tournament in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year where Cote d’Ivoire were crowned champions after beating the Black Stars of Ghana.
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