By Lolade Adewuyi
Ethiopia World Cup teamThe Walya Antelopes are the Super Eagles fans’ preference for Monday’s draw while the Teranga Lions are the least anticipated draw
Many Nigeria fans anticipate a play-off draw with Ethiopia ahead of Monday’s seeding for the final 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
In a poll conducted by Goal, 40.5% of fans would like the Super Eagles to be pitted against the Walya Antelopes, the least ranked team in Pot 2.
The African champions will be in Pot 1 during Monday’s draw alongside Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Algeria and Tunisia while Pot 2 will consist of Egypt, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal and Ethiopia.
Nigeria and Ethiopia have met in recent times with the Eagles defeating the Antelopes 2-0 in their final group game of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Another Afcon opponent that many Nigerians would like to see their team face are the Stallions of Burkina Faso who polled 23.7% of votes to place second.
Nigeria defeated Burkina Faso 4-1 in a friendly match played in Kaduna last week, their first meeting since the Afcon final ended 1-0 in the Super Eagles’ favour.
Resurgent Egypt are the third most favoured team by fans with 13.8% of votes. The Pharaohs may not be the super power they used to be three years ago but they have slowly risen and won all their matches in the second round qualifying stage.
Regular foes Cameroon and Senegal are the least favoured teams by Nigerian fans to be opponents of the Super Eagles with 11.2% and 10.8% respectively. Even though both sides have not been as dominant like in the past, they are seen as strong and could cause threats to Nigeria’s participation at the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
TWEETS
@PeterTLionn: Any team but Egypt. They are in top, top form and a match with them would be a big gamble.
@Hileymohbayo: A good team should always be ready for any team, any team should not scare us. So bring on any team.
@kyle_krish: I think Burkina Faso will be our easiest opponent…we’ve beaten [them] twice so thrice won’t make a difference.
?@hollakarm: I will like my darling Super Eagles to face Senegal and hope by 2014 we will be in the semi final of the World Cup.
@KoladeAdeyeye: They should pair Nigeria with any team because am sure those guys will defeat any African team.
The draw for the final playoff stage will take place at 12h00 (local Egypt time) on Monday, September 16. There will also be a draw for each match to determine which team plays host first. The home and away play-off matches will be played between 11-15 October (1st legs) and 15-19 November (2nd legs).