Nigeria will play Spain, Uruguay
and Tahiti at the 2013 Fifa
Confederations Cup in Brazil
after winning the Africa Cup of
Nations title on Sunday. It is a tall order for the Super
Eagles as Spain are the World
Cup and Euro championship title-
holders and Uruguay came
fourth at the last World Cup and
are the reigning South American kings. African teams have not
performed well at a now-
quadrennial tournament that is
staged a year before a World
Cup as a dress rehearsal, and
brings together the champions of the six Fifa regions plus the
host nation and the world
champions. Because Spain are the holders of
the world and European titles,
Euro 2012 runners-up Italy were
included in the draw made last
December with the African
champions still unknown. Nigeria kick off their campaign on
June 17 against surprise Oceania
champions Tahiti, tackle Uruguay
three days later and on June 23
meet star-stacked Spain with
the group winners and runners- up advancing to the semifinals. Cameroon are the only Africans
to reach the final, losing 1-0 to
hosts France in 2003, but it
proved a tragic tournament for
the Indomitable Lions with Marc
Vivien Foe suffering a fatal heart attack in an earlier match.

CONFEDERATIONS CUP
FIXTURES
Group A
June 15
At Brasilia: Brazil v Japan
June 16
At Rio de Janeiro: Mexico v Italy
June 19
At Fortaleza: Brazil v Mexico
At Recife: Italy v Japan
June 22
At Salvador: Italy v Brazil
At Belo Horizonte: Japan v
Mexico
Group B
June 16
At Recife: Spain v Uruguay
June 17
At Belo Horizonte: Tahiti v Nigeria
June 20
At Rio de Janeiro: Spain v Tahiti
At Salvador: Nigeria v Uruguay
June 23
At Fortaleza: Nigeria v Spain
At Recife: Uruguay v Tahiti
Semifinals
June 26
At Belo Horizonte: Gp A winners v
Gp B runners-up
June 27
At Fortaleza: Gp B winners v Gp A
runners-up
Third place play-off June 30
At Salvador: semifinals losers Final
June 30
At Rio de Janeiro: semifinals winners