2018 World Cup Qualifiers: Eagles in 'group of death'. It's a tough draw - Pinnick

The Super Eagles face a very diffi­cult task of qualifying for a third straight World Cup after they were drawn with Zambia, Cameroon and Algeria in the final round of quali­fication series for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.

Except Zambia’s Chipolopolo, who were not at the World Cup two years ago in Brazil, the other opponents, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and Algeria’s Fennecs represented Africa at the 2014 Mundial.

The draw which was held in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday has set the tone for the qualifying tournament for Russia 2018, which starts in October 2016 and ends in November 2017.

The Super Eagles tough qualify­ing group was not unexpected as they failed to be among the top five seeds for the draw caused by a poor FIFA rank­ing.

Nigeria will be under pressure to make it to Russia 2018 after they failed to qualify for next year’s AFCON in Gabon.

Reacting to the draw, President of Ni­geria Football Federation(NFF), Ama­ju Pannick said: “It is a tough draw, but then I have always said that you have to beat the best to get to the World Cup. Now we have the draw, we know how to prepare. The preparation has to start right now and we must make good use of every single day leading to the kick–off of the series.

“The other pools are tough as well, because for me, you can never afford to under–rate any team these days. Now we must quickly sort out the issue of Head Coach and his assistants and put every other thing in place in good time,” he said.

GROUP A: Tunisia, Libya, DR Con­go, Guinea

GROUP B: Zambia, Cameroon, Al­geria, Nigeria

GROUP C: Gabon, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco

GROUP D: Senegal, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde

GROUP E: Ghana, Egypt, Congo, Uganda