Defender Leon Balogun insists the Super Eagles have the ability and capacity to come out tops in the two 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying battles against the Pharaohs in Kaduna and Alexandria.
Both teams face off in Group G of the qualifying race, at the Ahmadu Bello, Kaduna on Day 3 and at the Borg el-Arab Stadium, Alexandria on Day 4. Nigeria play host on March 25 and Egypt are hosts four days later.
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“We would be targeting to win both matches,” Balogun, who stars for FSV Mainz of Germany, told thenff.com. “If we get the six points, that would ease our path to the Africa Cup finals. Winning will be the principle driving us in both matches.
“Egypt is a big football –playing nation, but Nigeria is also very, very big. There is no complex going into both matches and we have the men to give us victory in Kaduna and away in Egypt.”
Balogun won his first cap for the Eagles in the international friendly against Mexico at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in March 2014, but missed the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil as a result of injury sustained in that game.
Since then, he has been solid for Nigeria in the defence with a high work rate, churning out impressive performances, most recently against Chad at the start of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June 2015, and in friendlies against DR Congo and Cameroon in Belgium in October 2015.
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