Eagles won’t take Seychelles, Libya lightly – Yusuf

Super Eagles Chief Coach Salisu Yusuf says the senior national team will accord 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifying opponents Libya and Seychelles the same respect it will give perennial rivals South Africa as far as the race for Cameroun is concerned.In a chat with Daily Trust, the former Kano Pillars boss added that the team will do its utmost best to avoid past mistakes which led to the three-time AFCON winners missing out on the last two tournaments.

“It will be a grave mistake to look down on Seychelles or Libya because in football any team could shock you, we will treat all teams with respect and by the grace of God we’ll be in Cameroun for the next AFCON tournament,” Yusuf said.

Nigeria will begin their qualifying campaign for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with a Group E home fixture against 1996 winners Bafana Bafana in June 2017.

According to the full fixtures released by the Confederation of African Football, the match against South Africa will come up between June 5-13, 2017.

The qualifying series will take a nine month break before resuming in March 2018. And on match-day two, Gernot Rohr’s team will travel to Victoria where they will be guests of Seychelles. The encounter is scheduled for between March 19 and 27 2018.

The Eagles will be involved in a double header against Libya between September 3 and 11. First, they will host the Libyans at home and a couple of days later will travel to Tripoli for the reverse fixture.