The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) said it was confident the Super Eagles have a 100 per cent chance of beating Ethiopia to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals.
NFA’s Assistant Technical Director, James Peters, said on Monday in Abuja he was sure the team would be in Brazil in 2014 after overcoming Ethiopia.
Peters was reacting to the draws of the final play-off held on Monday at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
At the draws, the Nigerian senior men football side was pitched against the East Africans in the final qualifying round.
The Super Eagles will visit Ethiopia for the first leg between October 11 and October 15, while they will be hosting the Black Lions between November 15 and November 19
“We have a 100 per cent chance of advancing and qualifying, because in Africa today, no team can overcome or subdue us. It may be in another five years to come, but certainly not now.
“But between now and five years, there is no African country that can bring us down,’’ Peters said.
The former Super Falcons’ handler said he was confident the Ethiopians would not be a match to the Super Eagles, even though there are no longer minnows in football.
“Yes, there are teams that you will want to face and say anything can happen. But, with Ethiopia, nothing can happen.
“We will just advance, because there is no upset with Ethiopia,’’ he said.
Peters, however, advised the Super Eagles’ technical crew to avoid distractions at this stage of the race to 2014, which he referred to as the most delicate and dangerous.
“Though the technical crew has been doing what it ought to do very well. What it just needs to do now is to concentrate and make sure it doesn’t get distracted at this stage.
“This is because the last stage is always the most fragile stage when the chances we have can just slip away from our fingers,’’ he said.
Peters, who was once an assistant coach with the Super Eagles, further advised the NFA to give more support to the team for it to be motivated to perform well.
On the other pairings, the coach described the match-up of Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire as a dangerous one which would rekindle the two teams’ rivalry.
Senegal was paired with Cote d’Ivoire, while Egypt was paired with Ghana, Cameroon with Tunisia and Burkina Faso with Algeria.
“The pairing of Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire is a dangerous one, because it was during one of the qualifying series that mayhem was let loose in Senegal.
“The problem started when Cote d’Ivoire scored against the Senegalese in their home in Dakar to equalise. Now again, they have been paired together. I do know that this will rekindle and re-ignite the fire between the two teams,’’ Peters said.
He noted that the Egypt/Ghana pairing would be an old rivalry because North and West Africa had always been involved in a tug-of-war.
“The Egypt/Ghana pairing is an old rivalry, because North Africa and West Africa have always engaged in a tug-of-war.
“Besides, Ghana will want to subdue Egypt with strength and power but the Egyptians are very tricky.
“For Cameroon and Tunisia, it is a dicey issue, because Cameroon is just coming back from their sick bed.
“So, they will have to pour water on the Tunisians’ head to subdue their pressure, and do something tactical because Tunisia is a strong side.
“All in all, we are looking forward to an interesting performance in the final play-off from all the teams involved,’’ Peters said.
