The Super Eagles will not be heading into Friday's African Cup of Nations draw ceremony in Luanda, Angola as one of the favourites for the tournament, that is, if one takes into consideration the fact that the Eagles are not one of the top seeded teams this time around.
One would need to go back to Mali 2002 to find out the last time the Super Eagles went into an African Cup of Nations tournament as rank outsiders for the trophy because that is the scenario before the Eagles heading into Friday's ceremony as they have been placed in Pot 2 along with Tunisia, Ghana and Mali.
At Ghana 2008, the Super Eagles were placed in Pot 1 along with the hosts, Egypt and Tunisia. It was also the same situation at Egypt 2006 and Tunisia 2004.
Unfamiliar position
However, Pot 1 is currently occupied by the tournament's top seeded teams, defending champions Egypt, four-time winners Cameroon, 1992 champions Cote d'Ivoire and Angola, with each of them heading one of the four groups situated in the cities of Luanda (Angola), Cabinda (Cameroon), Benguela (Egypt) and Huila (Cote d'Ivoire).
And the reason for this is not farfetched, as besides the hosts, all the other top seeds have performed better than the Super Eagles in the past three editions of the Nations Cup, which was one of the criteria used by the continent's football governing body, CAF. So Nigeria will definitely be grouped along with one of the top seeds by the end of Friday's ceremony as was the case at Mali 2002, where they found themselves in the same group as the host.
Déjà vu
That tournament in Mali was held in a World Cup year, so if history repeats itself and the Super Eagles find themselves in Group A with Angola, then they will be presented with a great opportunity to get one over a team that denied them a ticket to the 2006 World Cup. But should they find themselves in Group B along with Cameroon, Group C with Egypt, or in Group D with Cote d'Ivoire, then they will have a battle royale up their sleeves against three of the teams expected to vie for a place on the podium - along with Ghana - in Angola.
Even though they will not be meeting Tunisia, Ghana or Mali in the first round, the Super Eagles could find themselves pitched against another tough customer in Algeria, which is one of the teams in Pot 3, alongside the trio of Zambia, Benin or Togo. There is also the prospect of a rematch with Mozambique which will be drawn out of Pot 4, where they find themselves with the trio of Burkina Faso, Gabon and Malawi. Time has however proven that been seeded doesn't guarantee success, so nothing stops the Super Eagles or, in fact, any of the other teams in Friday's ceremony (maybe not all of them, to be realistic) from securing a podium finish at the end of the tourney in Angola.
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