By George Aluo

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With barely two weeks to the draw of Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers, President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has declared that Nigeria’s qualification is non negotiable.
Pinnick said yesterday that the soccer federation will give the Eagles all the support they need to land in Russia in spite of all the distractions from a section of the football family.
The NFF boss said the performance of the Super Eagles in the international friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg shows that the country has a promising team that can pick a World Cup ticket.
“The two games against Mali and Luxembourg unveiled a young, vibrant team capable of taking Nigeria football to new levels of excellence,” Amaju stated.
Amaju who had after a meeting of the NFF board at the Glass House yesterday charged members of staff to remain focused said the soccer federation cannot allow itself to be distracted ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.
“We cannot afford any distractions, not from anywhere. We have an objective of qualifying for Russia 2018 and that is not what we can negotiate. That is one of the reasons I am in the office today. The Board has to look at various areas of the preparation as we countenance the draw for the group phase of the series that is coming up on 24th June.”
Nigeria has been put in Pot 3 by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ahead of the World Cup draw.
The Eagles going by the Pot arrangement could be drawn into the same group with either Egypt or Cameroon.
As expected Egypt are in Pot 1 alongside Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal.
Pot 2 has Tunisia, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea and Cameroon.
Nigeria are in Pot 3 with Congo Brazzaville, Morocco, Mali and South Africa, meaning these teams will avoid themselves in the qualifiers to be played in a mini-league format from October to November 2017.
The 20 teams for the draw will be divided into five groups of four teams with the winners of each group qualifying for Russia 2018.
Nigeria will be playing to qualify for a sixth World Cup after they featured at the 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 editions.