Nigeria’s home base Eagles, otherwise known as Super Eagles B team, will square up against the winner between Togo and Benin Republic for the qualifying ticket of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Kenya.According to a draw conducted by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the weekend, the two legged encounters which is expected to produce the 15 out of the 44 countries vying for slot in the tournament, will take place on the weekends of 13th and 18th August, 2017 respectively.
Nigeria will be looking to pick one of the three group tickets available for the Zone West B with the other two to be between Niger and Côte d’Ivoire for one ticket while Ghana will tackle Burkina Faso for the other.
If Nigeria qualifies, it will only be the third appearance as the late Stephen Keshi and current Fortuna Sittard boss, Sunday Oliseh had previously lead the Super Eagles team B to a 3rd place finish in 2014 and a dismal group stage ouster two years after, respectively.
Kenya will host this edition after only missing out on hosting the last tournament due to logistics. DR Congo are the defending champions of this CHAN tournament, specially designed for players in the domestic leagues of their countries.
By Olisemeka Obeche