The second round draw for Qatar 2022 qualifiers was made on Tuesday evening, with Nigeria ending in a relatively easy group, but the Leicester City star and his national team gaffer as issued a note of caution.
The three-time African champions have been drawn in Group C alongside Cape Verde, Central African Republic and Liberia in what looks like one of the easiest groups on paper.
Currently ranked 31st in the world by FIFA, the Super Eagles are billed to slug it out with the 78th-ranked Blue Sharks, the 109th-ranked Wild Beasts, and the 152nd-ranked Lone Stars for the group’s sole ticket for the knockout round.
However, Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi have warned that any complacency could lead to Nigeria crashing out of the race for the Mundial.
“This is the World Cup, no room for complacency. Every game must be taken seriously. Our first game is going to be the most important as well as all our home games, and even away games. We must make it to the 3rd round,” the Foxes’ midfield ace said, as quoted on the official Super Eagles Twitter account.
Wilfred @Ndidi25 on 2022 WCQ Draw:
“This is the World Cup, no room for complacency. Every game must be taken seriously. Our first game is going to be the most important as well as all our home games, and even away games. We must make it to the 3rd round.” pic.twitter.com/BiCg5TTuyt— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) January 21, 2020
Also in a similar vein, Rohr equally pointed out the need for his team to be in its best possible frame to be able to dispatch off three ‘tricky’ foes.
https://twitter.com/NGSuperEagles/status/1219708555907010560
“We’ve 3 tricky opponents in Group C. A few years ago, Cape Verde were Africa’s best FIFA ranked team, CAR have some good players in Europe and we played a friendly in Liberia recently that wasn’t easy…we’ve to be at our best against them.”