By Augustine Akhilomen
Ex international, Tijani Babanginda has said that the Super Eagles would dent Bafana Bafana of South Africa’s dream of qualifying for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nation.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will challenge Bafana Bafana, Libya and Seychelles in Group E, with the top team in each of the 12 pools and the three best runners-up advancing to the finals. Both Nigeria and South Africa failed to reach the 2017 Cup of Nations tournament, which kicks off in Gabon Saturday with a fixture between the host country and Guinea-Bissau.
South Africa edged Nigeria in the 2015 qualifiers at the start of now sacked coach Shakes Mashaba’s tenure, and may fancy their chances again with the Super Eagles having also failed to qualify for the 2017 event in Gabon that starts on Saturday.
The former Ajax winger told Soccernet.com.ng that the team would pick the automatic ticket ahead of South Africa.
“I am quite sure the Bafana of South Africa will be waving their heads regards to their team’s chances of qualifying for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The current Super Eagles are hungry and battle ready to dent their quest of qualifying for the tournament,” Babanginda told Soccernet.com.ng.
“It was so sad that they stopped us from qualifying for the 2017 AFCON edition that will be kicking off today, however, they will be unlucky this time around considering the fact that the Super Eagles players will be hoping to correct the wrongs of the past.
“We shouldn’t also forget that teams like Libya and Seychelles are not push-over and it would be good if we can pick the maximum points from them just as the team is doing in the World Cup qualifiers. Definitely, Nigeria will beat South Africa to win the automatic ticket for Cameroon 2019 Nations Cup,” he said.
