SUPER EAGLES BEGIN WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION QUEST ON JUNE 5

Super Eagles’ qualification for the Qatar 2022 will begin on Saturday 5, the first day of the first four-day international window in June. The tentative dates released at the weekend are 5, 6, 7 and 8 of June.

But since Nigeria often play their weekend matches on Saturdays, June 5 looks a more likely date.

With venue already sorted out well ahead of the encounter, the Super Eagles will be hosting Liberia at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, in Surulere Lagos.

Next, the team travels to Cape Verde on match day 2 which has tentative dates of June 11 to 14. It would be Nigeria’s first outing at the archipelago and island country in the central Atlantic Ocean.

The only other outing with the 10 volcanic island nation was a friendly match in Faro, Portugal on 9 January 2013.

The Super Eagles will have the full complements of their diaspora players as the European season would have ended in May.

The match day 3 will be a home encounter with the Central African Republic (CAR). The fixture is supposed to hold on any of the first four days of September this year while the reversed fixture in CAR is fixed for any of the September 5 to 7.

The Super Eagles will then have to travel to Liberia for their match day 5 fixed to hold in Monrovia on any date of 7 to 9 October. This is the reversed fixture of the match day 1.

The group stage of the World Cup qualifiers will be wrapped up with Nigeria’s home match with Cape Verde to be played on any date of October 10, 11 or 12.

The group winner will advance to the final qualifying stage which will be a straight knockout home and away duels with any of the four other group leaders.