AFCON Qualifiers Threaten Nigeria, Senegal Friendly

A proposed Super Eagles friendly in March against Senegal in London may no longer be played as that window will also see the beginning of AFCON 2019 qualifiers.
The AFCON 2019 qualifiers will begin on March 20 across Africa, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced.
The draw for the qualifying tournament is scheduled for Thursday in Libreville, Gabon.
Officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)have hinted the Super Eagles plan to prepare for a crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier at home against Cameroon in August by playing against another power-playing team in Senegal.
Four-time champions, Nigeria have failed to qualify for two straight AFCONs, 2015 and 2017, and will now hope to make up for this failure by ensuring they make it to Cameroon 2019.
Meanwhile, the draw for the 2019 AFCON qualifiers will be staged on Thursday in Libreville, the capital city of Gabon.
The qualifiers will begin from March 20 across the continent.
The 2019 AFCON will be hosted by Cameroon, who first staged the tournament in 1972.
Last year, they hosted the women’s version of the African tournament.
Chad, who pulled out of the qualifiers for the 2017 AFCON, are banned from this edition of the competition as a result.
Former champions like Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia failed to qualify for this year’s competition, which kicks off on Saturday, also in Libreville.
It will be the second time oil-rich Gabon are hosting the tournament after they first did so in 2012 as joint hosts with Equatorial Guinea.