Former Nigeria international, Victor Agali has said the Super Eagles must sit up if they dream of making the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations billed for Gabon.

The former African champions will be launching a comeback to the biennial football fiesta after missing out of the 2015 edition staged in Equatorial Guinea.

With the qualifiers pitching them alongside Egypt, Tanzania and Chad in Group G, the former Schalke 04 forward insists Nigeria should not be written off as the zone would only help them prepare adequately.

“Eagles will now realize that this zone is a tough one and prepare very well. That was why we missed out of the last edition because they felt it was going to be an easy ride and before you know it, they started making mistakes during matches and at the end we paid dearly for it,” Agali told Goal.

“With the presence of Egypt, those involved will now know that getting a ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations is not an easy one and they will prepare very well and hopefully finish well.”

“The challenge will be the quality of players we invite to prosecute the qualifiers. That is where my fear is.

“We have players who are not playing regular football, while some are playing in lower leagues and still get a chance to play for the country,” he continued.

“If the national team is dominated by players who play regularly in top flight league, their understanding about the game will definitely build them up for international assignments.

“When you are playing in the lower cadre where you face lower challenge(s), there is no how you won’t fizzle out when you face tough challenges on the international scene and that is a big problem.

“If we put our acts right, we will definitely secure a ticket to play in the Africa Cup of Nations. Even Egypt are not guaranteed a ticket to qualify, they will have to battle with other teams,” he concluded.

Nigeria will begin the qualifiers with matches against Chad and Tanzania in June.



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