Super Eagles of Nigeria get Cape Verde, Central African Republic and Liberia in Group C of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

Winners of the group will have to go through a two-leg playoff to qualify for the World Cup.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been drawn in Group C of the second round stage of the qualifiers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers where they will face Cape Verde, Central African Republic and Liberia.

The draw was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cairo in Egypt where the top 26 ranked Confederation of African Football (CAF) teams were joined by the 14 winners from the first round to be divided into 10 groups.

The first matches of the second round will be played on Monday, October 5, 2020. The full schedules are yet to be released.

For this qualifiers, CAF have reverted to the format used for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which means that 10 group winners from the second round will play in a home-and-away playoff to get the five countries that will play in the tournament.

Reacting to the draw, Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr described the three Group C opponents are tricky.

“We’ve 3 tricky opponents in Group C. A few years ago, Cape Verde were Africa’s best FIFA ranked team, CAR have some good players in Europe and we played a friendly in Liberia recently that wasn’t easy...we’ve to be at our best against them,” Rohr is quoted to say by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) media team.

Super Eagles midfielder Wilfred Ndidi says there no room for complacency when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup.

“This is the World Cup, no room for complacency. Every game must be taken seriously," Ndidi is quoted to say by the NFF.

"Our first game is going to be the most important as well as all our home games, and even away games. We must make it to the 3rd round.”

Since their debut in 1994, the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been to five other FIFA World Cup tournaments and have only managed to reach the Round of 16 three times.

CAF 2022 World Cup qualifying groups

Group A

Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger Republic, Djibouti

Group B

Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea

Group C

Nigeria, Cape Verde, Liberia, Central Africa Republic

Group D

Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi

Group E

Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda

Group F

Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola

Group G

Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia

Group H

Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo

Group I

Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan

Group J

DR Congo, Benin Republic, Madagascar, Tanzania