Today’s strength-testing match of Nigeria and Burkina Faso may have greater significance than hitherto anticipated. Both teams need good results to enhance their positions when this month’s FIFA ranking will be released on Thursday.
Top five teams among the 10 African teams that had moved to the final qualifying stage of the World Cup would be seeded based on the ranking that would be released on Thursday. Based on recent matches, even Cape Verde, which entered the World Cup only for the fourth time since the debut entry of 2002 had caused the biggest upset so far.
Besides knocking out on home ground, one of the powerhouses of African football, Tunisia, they had also overtaken Nigeria on the ranking. As after the weekend World Cup matches, Nigeria’s possible points moved slightly from 700 points to 709.
But that of Cape Verde jumped astronomically from 696 to 739 points, pushing the African rave of the moment team up from sixth position to third behind Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Nigeria, however, still remains within the top five in Africa and would be seeded. Burkina Faso, which currently occupied the seventh position was expected to put up great fight against the African champions, the Super Eagles, in today’s friendly match in Kaduna.
A win by Burkina Faso would be significant since it would fetch the team great points against a great team playing at home. Incidentally, both teams were the finalists at the last Africa Cup of Nations and had also met in the opening match of Group C.
Just as Nigeria needed today’s match to firmly establish among the top five and be seeded in the Monday draws for the final preliminary competition, so also would Burkina Faso need the match to rank sixth and still be seeded since Mali, which is among the top five had been knocked out of the World Cup.
If Burkina Faso failed in the bid, there is the possibility of having to face Nigeria again next month in the final leg of the World Cup qualifier. Among other possible opponents Nigeria might draw are Egypt, Cameroon, Senegal and Ethiopia.
These teams were already outside the top five in the continent. The draws would hold at the CAF secretariat at an event to be attended by FIFA Director of Competitions, Mustapha Fahmy, who was a former CAF secretary general.
Also expected to attend the event is Gordon Savic, the head of FIFA World Cup and Olympic qualifiers competition. The top five among the teams would be placed in one pot, while the others would be in the other pot.
There would also be a separate draw to determine which team plays at home first. The home and away play-off matches would be played in the period of October 11 to 15, while the second leg holds within November 15 and 19.
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