That Nigeria will not be involved in the Nations Cup 2013 Preliminary Round 1 has given National coach Stephen Keshi a breather even as CAF has appointed Linus Mba as Match commissioners for a match in Sao Tome on January 8.

Initially CAF had decreed that countries that did not qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea will be required to kick start preliminaries in January and this put Stephen Keshi in a lot of pressure to be able to put a team together immediately after the traditional December festivities.

However, in the draw released in Cairo last week, only four teams, Seychelles, Swaziland, Sao Tome and Lesotho will play the preliminaries 1 on January 8 with the return leg billed for January 22.

Nigeria’s Linus Mba has been appointed Match Commissioner for the Sao Tome –Lesotho match.

All the other teams including Nigeria will now start their matches in Preliminaries 2 on February 29, clear 12 days after the 2012 Nations Cup final in Libreville in Gabon on February 12.

Stephen Keshi who has been contracted by Supersports to do Studi analysis during the Nations Cup will try to convince the Barrister Green Led NFF Technical Committee today, why he should be allowed to do the Supersport assignment since according to him “ I have some time on my hands.”

He will meet stiff opposition from those members who believe that since there is no credible team on ground, he should use the whole of January and February to try and perfect his team instead of going on “…holiday in South Africa”

“The match against Rwanda in Abuja on February 29 is like the beginning of the Keshi years, so before then he should be able to put his structures in place, that is why, today in Lagos he will be expected to convince the Technical Committee on how the Super Sport function will not affect his Nations Cup preparations “ Paul Bassey spokesman of the Technical Committee said.