CHAN Eagles To Play Ivory Coast In Pretoria Jan. 9

The Super Eagles Team B will be playing Ivory Coast next month in an international friendly, while in South Africa for its training tour as the count down to the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) gets underway.

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick who confirmed the development to SportingLife, said the federation would foot the expenses of the match which is expected to hold in Pretoria.

Both countries are using the friendly to test their readiness for the CHAN which begins in Rwanda from January 16 to February 7.

According to Pinnick, the match would be played on January 9 in Pretoria, where the team will be camped for its final preparations.

“We want to give the team the best that we believe they should have when preparing for a tournament like CHAN. That is why we considered the Ivorians as the ideal opponents,” said Pinnick.

The NFF expects the team to surpass its third position at the last CHAN held in South Africa in early 2014.

While Nigeria is drawn in Group C, Ivory Coast are in Group A along with the host country, with both countries kick starting the competition on January 16.

The Eagles qualified for the competition following a 2-0 aggregate win against Burkina Faso that is reserved for players in the domestic leagues in Africa.

Just this week, head coach, Sunday Oliseh released a 26-man list expected to report to camp on December 14 in Abuja.

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