Three-time African champions Nigeria will on Thursday (today) know their group stage opponents when the draw ceremony for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations holds in Abidjan.
The Super Eagles’ drop in the latest FIFA rankings saw them seeded in Pot 2 and they are destined to face either hosts Ivory Coast or any of the top four African countries.
With the large number of North African countries in Pot 1, the Eagles’ chances of being paired alongside either Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco or Algeria are very high.
While the probability of coming up against the Maghreb nations is very high, the Eagles could equally find themselves in the same group with Ivory Coast or Senegal.
The Eagles’ other likely opponents will emerge from Pots 3 and 4.
In Pot 3 are Cape Verde, who have improved astronomically in the past few years, 2012 champions Zambia, South Africa, who were the 1996 champions as well as Guinea, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania.
Nigeria are definitely bound to face one of these six countries.
Pot 4 contains the lowest-ranked teams in the competition.
Angola, hosts in 2010, are together with Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Namibia, The Gambia and Tanzania.
Meanwhile, Udinese goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, has been handed a recall to the Eagles for the friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique following the uncertainty over the availability of goalkeepers Adeleye Adebayo and Olorunleke Ojo.
Okoye returns to the Eagles fold for the first time since November 2022, when he was invited for the international friendly against Portugal in Lisbon.
Adebayo is based in Israel and will have to re-route his flight ticket, no thanks to the crisis at his base, while Ojo has yet to be granted entry visa into Portugal, where the friendlies will be played.
Cyprus-based Francis Uzoho is currently the only goalkeeper in the Eagles training camp in Portugal.
Okoye was at a time the Eagles’ first choice, but his time with the national team has been marred by costly blunders and threats to his life.
He has made 16 appearances for the Eagles and has kept six clean sheets for the three-time African champions.
The Eagles were still expecting the arrival of the new invitee, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, as at the time of filing in this report.
Meanwhile, Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen, as well as Bayer Leverkusen forward Victor Boniface trained with the rest of the squad in Portugal on Wednesday ahead of the friendlies.
