NFF will do everything for Nigeria to qualify for 2017 AFCON – Pinnick Assures

[contextly_auto_sidebar]

The president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick has said that the board would do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.

The Super Eagles were left out of the 2015 edition in Equatorial Guinea after the team failed to qualify having drawn the last game against South Africa in Uyo.

With the team sitting in second spot behind Egypt, Pinnick said that the priority of the Glass House is to ensure that the nation hoists her flag in Gabon where the next edition of the Afcon will take place.

“Our focus is on the game against Egypt and we know how important it is to our ambition of qualifying for the next AFCON in Gabon,” Pinnick told Complete Sports.

“We know Nigerians are still disappointed with the performance of the Eagles at the last CHAN and we cannot afford to miss out on the AFCON again after our failure to qualify for the last edition.
“We don’t want to put our mind on qualifying as one of the best losers as that could be costly at the end of the day,” he added.

The national team head coach is currently under fire over his accusations against NFF and those criticizing his role but the board presider gave assuarances that they are behind the coach in ensuring the country’s qualification for 2017 AFCON.

Sunday Oliseh’s men will play Egypt over two legs with the first to be played at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna and Pinnick is aware of the threat the Pharaohs pose to the Eagles.

“Egpyt are our main rivals in the group and we must do our best against them to ensure we qualify for the competition.

“On our part, we will make sure we give the technical crew and the players all the necessary support to ensure we grab the ticket.”

The first encounter between the Super Eagles and the Pharaohs will be decided on March 23 in Kaduna.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *