TheCable

Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, is upbeat about the prospect of facing either Djibouti or Swaziland in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers though he won’t be underrating them.

At the preliminary draw held in St. Petersburg, Russia on Saturday, the Super Eagles drew bye from the first round of the African qualifiers, but begins their campaign for a place at the finals in Russia in November away to the winner of the Djibouti and Swaziland first round playoff.

And Oliseh has warned against complacency, revealing that there are lots of dangerous teams around that could hurt any other team if taken for granted.

“Of course, I am happy with the draw,” he told thenff.com.

“We are not playing the first round, which is a preliminary round and which we knew before the draw. We will also be playing the first leg of the second round away which means we have an advantage of playing the more crucial return leg at home, in front of our fans.

“Djibouti and Swaziland need to be given the respect that they deserve and either of them that we face in the second round will not be underrated. We respect every nation and will battle anyone that emerges with our full strength.

“With the draw now concluded, we can safely say that the race to Russia has officially started. I am optimistic we will run this race very well, we will give it our very best and pray it will be good enough to get us one of the five slots available for Africa.”

The home and away ties will be played between November 9th and 17th, 2015.