Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to grab the maximum points despite the fact that his opponent in today’s African Cup of Nations qualifier Chad are ranked 129 places below Nigeria in the latest FIFA rankings.

In an interview posted on the website of the Confederations of African Football, the 1994 winning captain posited that Chad who are ranked 172, would not be handled with kid’s gloves in their Gabon 2017 Group G opener scheduled for today at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna.

The Super Eagles are currently ranked in the 43rd position but their form against countries regarded as minnows leaves nothing to be desired. They were beaten by Uganda at the Uyo stadium in their last international friendly encounter.

Nigeria also failed to qualify for the 2015 Afcon despite having South Africa, Kenya and Congo in their group.

However, the Super Eagles Gaffer stated that his boys would not underrate the Chadians who defeated Guinea 2-1 in a friendly game last Saturday in France.

Keshi admitted he’s now wiser since the Super Eagles’ humiliating 3-2 home loss to Congo in their 2015 AFCON qualifier opener, which largely contributed to their not being able to defend their crown in Equatorial Guinea.

“Chad may be tiny in size but football in Africa today is dynamic and as such we have to respect all the teams and prepare very well which is quite important. We have to be ready and be serious minded about this match because it is going to be our first in the qualifiers and we have to give more than 100 percent so that we can be victorious”

“We are not going to handle them (Chad) with kid gloves because they have a lot of professional players now. I played against them (Chad) before in 2008 but they are a different team now and their current coach (Emmanuel Trégoat) is from France, so we are probably going to play a team complete with a lot of foreign professionals from France and Morocco. So we are expecting a good match”

Super Eagles captain and goal minder, Vincent Enyeama corroborated Keshi while declaring the team’s determination to qualify for the next African Cup of Nations.

“You can never underestimate any opponent in African football and we must treat Chad like other top oppositions in world football,” he said.

“Some of our fans are still upset and the only way to earn back their respect is to give them a reason to believe again.

“We are all determined to qualify for the Nations Cup, and after the tournament I can say a proper goodbye.

In the group’s other match, the Pharaohs of Egypt opening game for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Taifa stars of Tanzania at the Borg El Arab in Alexandria, Egypt will be played behind closed doors tomorrow.

According to Egyptian AhramOnline Sports, Mart Nooij men’s will be playing against their hosts behind closed doors because Egyptian football games in recent months have been engulfed with consecutive violent incidents between soccer fans and police.

It would be recalled that an Egyptian court sentenced 11 men to death on Tuesday for their part in the Port Said stadium disaster, which remains the country’s most violent incident at a football venue where more than 70 fans were killed in 2012.

One of the 11 men handed death sentences was tried in absentia, while ten were given 15 years in jail and 14 were sentenced to 10 years. A further 15 men, including the former Port Said police chief, received a five-year sentence.

Egypt has fallen four positions in the FIFA rankings announced to world’s 55th national team and they played a single friendly game in March, weeks after Cuper’s appointment, defeating Equatorial Guinea 2-0.

However Egypt continued their dominance over Malawi as they beat the Flames 2-1 at Borg El Arab Stadium, Alexandria early this week in a friendly match.

Its opponents Tanzania has lost full 20 places in FIFA ranking , down to 127 .

Egypt have won seven AFCON trophies and are drawn in Group G of the 2017 qualifiers along with Nigeria, Tanzania and Chad

•Adapted from Saturday Sun. Photo shows Keshi.

Update news