Nigeria target win over SLeone to improve World Cup seeding

Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu said his team will be gunning for victory at home to Sierra Leone on Saturday to improve seeding chances in qualifying for both the 2010 World Cup and the Nations Cup.

Nigeria lead Group Four of the qualifying series with the maximum 15 points from five matches but Amodu has said that by finishing this round of qualifiers with a perfect record, the Super Eagles will have a better chance of being seeded for the next stage of the competition.

“We want to win all our matches because that will give us an advantage by the time of the draw for the next stage. The rules for seeding will involve your performance at the last Nations Cup, your performance in the qualifiers and also your current FIFA ranking,” Amodu said.

“It is therefore important that we win on Saturday so as to finish top of the standings and that way improve our chances of being seeded.”

The Eagles only reached the last eight of this year's Nations Cup in Ghana but have since remained unbeaten under Amodu, who returned to his former post in April.

The draw for the next round of qualifiers will take place on October 24 and it will involve the winners of the 12 qualifying groups as well as eight best runners-up.

The teams will be drawn into five groups of four with all the group winners qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa while the top three teams qualify for the Nations Cup in Angola in January 2010.