By Adedapo Adesanya
As the race to the FIFA World Cup 2022 scheduled to hold in Qatar draws nearer, the fate of Nigeria’s Super Eagles ahead of the tournament begins as they have been drawn against Cape Verde, Central Africa Republic (CAR) and Liberia in the Group C of the 40-nation qualifier group.
In the Confederation of African Football (CAF) led draw held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo on Tuesday, the first set of qualifier matches will begin in March 2020 and after the conclusion, will see only the group winners advance to the final round of qualifying, where the 10 group winners will be drawn into five pots to determine the five sides over two legs that will compete in Qatar.
The Groups are:
Group A: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti,
Group B: Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea,
Group C: Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central African Republic (CAR), Liberia
Group D: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Malawi,
Group E: Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda,
Group F: Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola,
Group G: Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia,
Group H: Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo,
Group I: Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan,
Group J: Congo DR, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania.
If Nigeria is victorious at the top of Group C , they will only have one more test, to defeat their opponent in the next and final round to secure the ticket that will see the Gernot Rohr led side represent the country in its seventh FIFA World Cup appearance and fourth consecutive tournament.
Nigeria was previously present at USA 1994, France 1998, Korea/Japan 2002, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, and Russia 2018. The country missed out the opportunity to qualify for the tournament in Germany 2006, losing to Angola over a 1-0 aggregate score.
At the last tournament outing in Russia, the Super Eagles crashed out of the group after losing to Argentina, after a defeat to Croatia in the first match and a victory over Iceland in the second game.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Dipo Olowookere