Lagos — Tunisia coach Umberto Coelho was upbeat about the prospects of the Carthage Eagles earning a berth to the World Cup 2010 finals from a tough looking group that pitched the North Africans against old rivals, Nigeria by saying he was ready for the challenge against the Super Eagles.

The Portuguese, who attended the African draw ceremony held in Zurich on Wednesday, described the Group B where Tunisia and another African heavyweight, Nigeria will be campaigning in the final battle for the group's sole World Cup ticket with Kenya and Mozambique as 'a good group'.

"I think it's a good group. Nigeria is a great team because it won all its six matches in knock-out stages. Kenya and Mozambique are also two good teams," Coelho said.

The top three finishers in that group will also qualify for the African Cup of Nations, which also holds in 2010 in Angola.

Coelho, who replaced the long serving Frenchman Roger Lemerre in August, told the local media that none of the African four groups could be summed up as a group of death adding he was ready to play any team in the final phase of qualifying as he had no preference for any particular team.

He, however, conceded that the fate of the Carthage Eagles who are bidding to earn their fourth straight World Cup ticket would largely depend on their preparation for all the matches.

The Tunisians will hope to kick start their mission when they pay a visit to Kenya on March 28 on the resumption of the final phase.

Afterward, their next two matches will be riveting as they will be at home first to Mozambique on June 7 and then to Nigeria about two weeks later.

Nigeria and Tunisia are not strangers to the high level confrontation at this stage as they boost of previous clashes in 1978, 1982 and 1986.

In other development, the coach of Kenya, Francis Kimanzi, said he believed the Harambee Stars have what it takes to cause surprises from the group.

Kimanzi, who is awaiting the renewal of his contact by the Kenya Football Federation (KFF), told the Kenya Times that though the team is a 'group of death', the Stars have what it takes to emerge victorious in the group given their breathtaking form in the recently concluded second phase of the qualifier.

Kimanzi said the Stars would work extra hard to qualify for both the World Cup and Nations Cup.

"There is no small team in the qualifying campaign. The idea is to strive to win home and away matches and we will be home and dry. If we managed to beat such a strong team as Guinea then I do believe we have the capacity to stop other Africa giants including Nigeria and Tunisia. We need to have at least three weeks to one month of training to build cohesion amongst players. But above all, friendly matches against top notch sides are essential ahead of the event," Kimanzi boasted.