President of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, has given reasons that informed the choice of Mozambique as Super Eagles opponent in the latest FIFA International Window, Completesports.com reports.
Super Eagles are scheduled to confront the Mambas of Mozambique next week – Tuesday, October 16 at Estadio Municipal de Albufeira, Portugal – after playing the Saudi Arabian national team, the Green Falcons on Friday, October 13.
According to the NFF President, the choice of Mozambique is, firstly, to keep the Super Eagles busy during the FIFA International Window and to enable Head Coach, Jose Peseiro, to have a feel of how the southern African countries play ahead of next month’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
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“We have three countries from the South Africa regions in our group and it is only good we utilise the window to play a team that has similarities with our opponents in the qualifiers. We have to play Mozambique after the friendly with Saudi Arabia on Friday,” Gusau told Completesports.com.
“The Super Eagles are drawn in Group C with Benin Republic, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Rwanda. You can see it’s a very tough group and we’re not taking chances, that is why we arranged a friendly game with Mozambique so that the coach will have an idea of the southern African style of play.”
Gusau added: “The NFF will ensure that we engage Super Eagles in all FIFA international windows to build confidence and cohesion. The idea is to utilize all the windows as we intensify efforts to win the AFCON again.”
The Mambas who are ranked 113th in the latest FIFA Men’s World Ranking did not progress beyond the group stage of the Africa Cup of Nations in their three previous appearances so far in the history of the competition. They are in for their fourth AFCON appearance at Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
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Three-time African champions, Super Eagles, ranked 40th in the current FIFA Ranking, are preparing for their 20th AFCON appearance at the 2023 edition that will hosted by Cote d’Ivoire from January 13 to February 11, 2024.
For AFCON 2023, the Super Eagles will face Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau in Group A, while the Mambas of Mozambique will confront Egypt, Ghana and Cape Verde in Group B.
By Richard Jideaka, Abuja
1 Comment
No complains. All our opponents in that group are fair games if we apply our full quality into proper use. Bring it!