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2026 WCQ Group C: Resilient Lesotho’s Crocodiles Draw 1-1 With Super Eagles In Uyo

2026 WCQ Group C: Resilient Lesotho’s Crocodiles Draw 1-1 With Super Eagles In Uyo

Nigeria’s Super Eagles commenced their 2026 World Cup campaign on a shaky start as a resilient Lesotho side held Nigeria to a 1-1 draw at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo on Thursday in Group C.

The three-time African Cup of Nations winner despite controlling possession failed to create any clear cut goal scoring chances against Lesotho in the game.

But then, the team was punished as the Crocodiles of Lesotho took a shock lead in the 56th minute thanks to Motlomelo Mkhawanazi’s goal to silence the home supporters.

 

Read Also: Nigeria Vs Lesotho Live Blogging – 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier (Group C Matchday 1)



Francis Uzoho’s poor judgement of the ball allowed Lesotho player to get the ball before him.

However, in the 67th minute, the Super Eagles leveled parity through Semi Ajayi’s goal to give the team an element of hope.

But all efforts to score the vital goal proved abortive as Lesotho kept their backline very tight to ensure they share a point with Nigeria.

The Super Eagles will next face Zimbabwe on Sunday at the Huye Stadium in Butare, in a game Nigeria must pick the maximum points if they are to brighten their chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

 

By James Agberebi in Uyo

Got what it Takes?

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COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 43
  • OMO DELTAL 12 months ago

    Sack this coach now!!!!!!!!
    The local coach would have won this match. Corruption is playing out in our soccer. Some fool stupid anti-Nigeria development supports their tribal men because of myopic reasoning. We don’t need a foreign coach. We don’t need players with lazy spirit. We need Oliseh as a coach. We need local goalkeepers, we need local ballers who are rugged midfielders, and we need Emenike as assistant coach but the Yoruba and Hausa will not agree to this because of regional differences. What are will enjoying in this country? Politically zero, education corruption everywhere, we keep going back. A Nation with great potential. Nawa ohhhh. Very painful.

    • U were making sense but made a fool of yourself when you mentioned Oliseh

  • Oakfield 12 months ago

    Hahahahhaa….and even a defender was the one who scored the only goal that at least saved our blushes. What happened tonour strikers??????Chai! So, where do we go from here?????? Where???? Is this how we gonna win next years afcon???? Is this how we gonna qualify and play at the world cup. It is a shame that our football has crumbled to this level. My candid advice to uzoho: one mistake too many, kindly steer clear of the super eagles to save your already depleted career bcs it seem the more u feature the more u disgrace yourself. Stay away!!!! Ndi Ara!

    • TALK UR OWN 12 months ago

      WHAT CAUSE THIS MESS UP IS THAT:
      1. WE UNDERRATED LESOTHO. WE FORGOT THAT C.A.R DEFEATED SUPER EAGLE AT HOME IN LAST WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS UNDER ROHR.
      NIGERIA SHOULD WATCH OUT, NO TEAM IS PUSH-OVER AGAIN IN AFRICA FOOTBALL.
      2. DUE TO INVITATION OF BENCH-WARMER, INCONSISTENT, IRRELEVANT, IRREGULAR PLAYERS ( like IZOHO, ARIBO, Omeruo, Umar,Okoye,) INTO SUPER EAGLE TEAM.
      MOST TIMES, PASEIRO USE EGOISM, SENIORITY, AND FAVOURISM TO INVITE PLAYERS. IF NOT, WHY IZOHO THAT JUST PLAYED 45-MINUTE (CONCEDED 2 GOAL) SINCE THE BEGINNING OF SEASON IN CYPRUS LEAGUE WILL BE PREFER TO ADELEYE THAT IS SUPER REGULAR IN ISREAL LEAGUE.
      WHAT IS THE BUSINESS OF SADIQ UMAR (that just recovered from injury) IN THAT TEAM THAN CYRIEL DESSERS.

  • Johnson Chima Onyeagoro 12 months ago

    Serves Nigeria right. With all the money available in Nigeria, you can’t higher a qualified coach. A coach that’s is of good quality will NOT put Uzoho in goal. Good radiance to bad rubbish. If South Africa fails to take the advantage to top the group, Nigeria should do thanks giving. STUPID FA,STUPID PLAYERS THAT LACK VISION AND PURPOSE AND ABOVE ALL STUPID COACHES. GO AND SEE HOW EGYPT AND ALGERIA EXECUTED THEIR HOME MATCHES.

    • Don’t know why some of you do talk without sense. Mention one goalkeeper in Nigeria that is currently better than Uzoho? When Rohr brought in Okoye that was how some of you were shouting. I’m not defending Uzoho performances of recent but we need to be patient in this country. Some of you will be mentioning those untested goalkeeper in obscure league that doesn’t have Africa football experience. Look how beautiful Lukman is doing in national team since he has been playing. I remembered when he has not been invited. Sebi we told you Rohr is not the problem. That he lost to CAR bla bla. Any team can beat anybody besides Nigerians over rate our team and players too much. Once they score in theire clubsides they start making unnecessary predictin that they will win world and nations as of other countries are coming to sell groundnut.

  • Moses Inyang 12 months ago

    Uzoho again?

  • We know The NFF is inept.
    We know, they are corrupt.
    We blame Eguavoen, we blame the poor playing surface, we blame bad officiating, we blame passive supporters.
    But the inescapable truth is that our players are just not that good.
    Have been saying this for a good while.
    The day gullible Nigerian fans recognize this will be the day, they adjust their perspective accordingly.

    • marvelous Sunday 12 months ago

      The truth is we sacked Rohr just to bring in people who are far below his level. Qualification was 100% assured with Rohr in charge.

  • Dr. Drey 12 months ago

    We must go back to 4-4-2…..we must go back to how we used to play in 1994……LMAOOooo

    How many times have I told y’all you will be rubbed in the mud if you go back to that archaic, obsolete and uncontemporary style of play….LMAOoo

    When Rohr would play his 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot, big mouthed oversabis on this forum called him a conservative defensive coward….LMAOoo. He was supposed to always unleash 6 forwards against out opponents.

    You wanted 4-4-2….now you’ve got it….! Deal with the pains that come with it….LMAoo

    Nobody should blame ANY player out there today. They only played as the algorithm directed.

    We have dropped home points vs Lesotho……what will happen when we play South Africa at home or when Rohr comes back to roost with his now hard to crack Beninoise squad…??

    I don’t even want to imagine what could happen when we go face these guys away from home.

    Any coach can win AFCON with these boys in 2 weeks……LMAOooo

    I still dey laff o.

    • Marvelous Sunday 12 months ago

      My brother am joining you too laugh with a cup of tea filled with honey.

    • Legendary 12 months ago

      I tire oo ahhh. Even if you will use 442, use it sensibly. It’s the time I saw this guy put Sadiq Umar and Osimhen upfront I know say aaaahhhhh this man no sabi anything. Wetin Dem dey do for training abeg? Use Awoniyi and Osimhen. Use Boniface and Osimhen. You so see say e no work??? We’re literally playing the ball with -1.

      Using 442 with Iheanacho and Lookman on the wings. How Dem wan take cross?

      E kan put iwobi for 8. Na that one pain me pass. Iwobi for 8 ahhh when we no collect red card

      • Dr. Drey 12 months ago

        Iwobi played more of the no 4 position in this game my brother. I cant count the number of times I saw him receiving the ball in space between Bassey and Ajayi. He was a deep lying playmaker for large parts of the game.

        Others are moving forward and evolving their football in sync with modern advancements, Nigerians are rolling back their 3 decade old “identity” LMAOoo.

        Children who were born in 1994 are already parents now for heaven’s sake…LLMAooo

        • Legendary 12 months ago

          Looolll

          I can’t believe it.

          Everyday I remember how Rohr was

          Building his team
          Not pressured to bring any ‘in form’ player in
          Wisely drafting in new players

          That guy was cooking something and they all spoilt it.

          Man knew the right players to use for his 4231 or his 352. He only played 424 towards the ending of matches when we need a goal desperately.

          Now we can’t even string passes together. Just be like say we dey play set.

          • Legendary 12 months ago

            Even when they claimed Rohr wasn’t winning ‘convincingly’ we saw the better game play. We saw the switch in formations. We saw how we lost against CAR with a Balogun error and he came back to score in the reverse fixture. We were assured of winning at least.

            These fugazi friendlies may have deceived everyone, but not me. No be every body be Sao Tome.

            I remember the match we beat Lesotho 3 – 0, those guys actually played well, lol. And the 4-2

            Now we can’t even beat them. Hopefully south Africa will draw Benin tomorrow make the draw go round. Becauseeeeee

    • Kenneth 12 months ago

      No let that laughter send you to ER. Oxygen is scarce for Lunatics like you. Have advised you to follow your yeye PE teacher to Benin republic. Why comment on naija games. No be you dey recommend half -bred naija players to us back then. Our local ones can’t do shit. Tell your PE teacher to use his formation against south Africa on saturday.Radarada oshi

    • Purified 12 months ago

      I am one of the rookies here, I read comments and I particularly pay keen attention to your arguments. It is always top notch.

      But I don’t agree with your point in relation to the formation. 4-4-2 is as good formation just as any other. If that is what you know how to use, why should you go for 352 or 4231 etc.

      I think it’s about the quality of managers at the helm of affairs. 442 has worked for us in the past because the manager knows his onions and has built a system that can accommodate it.

      Our current coach has never been in my good book. I find it really very hard to accept him as Super Eagles coach. The coach is below par. He is not in the class of coaches that should be handling our team.

      We didn’t loss because of the formation. We lost because we don’t have a coach.

      I don’t know our coach’s philosophy, style and pattern.

      I honestly feel our challenge is not is more of managerial and not formation. Both Rorh and Peseiro are not in the class of coaches Nigeria should be looking at talk less of giving them a role national team.

      • The coach’s philosophy is always reflected by his formations what is Pep Guardiola without his 4-3-3 or Jose Mourinho without his 4-2-3-1 but the difference between top coaches from average ones is their ability to find a working system(formation) suitable to the team at hand personally even gernot rorh will school this one dimensional Peseiro because he has failed to understand that you can’t dominate with a 4-4-2 and expect to win matches without conceding because the midfield is light and against counterattacks will be stretched and without the extra man in the middle it becomes nigh impossible to create through midfield. Then there’s the issue of fielding players out of position which is laughable as its baffling.

        This man’s job is simple but not easy all he has to do is find the most suitable formation for the team and then find the right blend of players but he’s continuously failed to do so. Like the good doctor said “I just dey laugh” is my mood whenever the SE match is around the corner.

  • Legendary 12 months ago

    I will keep cursing for those who were behind the sack of Gernot Rohr..

    Who plays 442 with two pure strikers, wingers that can’t cross, an 8 with no flare,in 2023 oooo chai.

    Awoniyi was just dormant upfront
    Iheanacho offered nothing on that right wing, he still needed to come inside
    Iwobi cannot thrive in that position

    Who’s this strange useless coach? This is not Sao Tome lol.

    • Dennis 12 months ago

      Clowns like jimmyball, omo9ja,odegbami all screamed that we should sack rohr to avoid a disaster. What are we now facing with their preferred choice? Disaster!!!

      • JimmyBall 12 months ago

        @Dennis… let Rohr work his magic at Benin Republic. He was with us 6yrs and killed our football. Peseiro is here to conduct the Burial. Journey men washedup white minnion coaches

  • It’s like we play the game without strikers

  • This pesiro thing will injure you guys las las.

  • Using the various matches played under Pessiro, the coach doesn’t represent a person that can take us to the world cup. He used Frank Onyeka as attacking mid fielder and Iwobi behind Onyeka. He started with Oseyi instead Ola Aina. He used Ozoho against popular outcry. The real problem of our football is the NFF who always employ successive weak coaches as others are sacked. Check Sunday’s game we are likely going to be beating by Zimbabwe. This man called Pessero is not a coach. If the NFF don’t ask fast by sacking this man now, we may not qualify. Just mark this opinion.

  • Legendary 12 months ago

    Dear Super Eagles

    – Victor Boniface won’t solve your problems
    – Victor Osimhen won’t solve your problems
    – Taiwo Awoniyi won’t solve your problems
    – Nathan Tella won’t solve your problems
    – Gift Orban won’t solve your problems

    Goodluck adding another forward player,

    Eguavoen: Shares Guardiola’s philosophy
    Peseiro: Best buddies with Mourinho

    Who’s next? Klopp’s room mate in high school?

    Copied from Twitter

  • Our routines break down easily in opposition 18 yard box.

    Peseiro must learn to mask his intentions. Opposition teams know that the foundation of his formation is heavily reliant on crosses; how else will you explain having 4 strikers up front?

    So, opponents do the sensible thing: flood thier box 18 with too many players.

    Plus we are porous at the back with error prone defenders and a goalkeeper who is still trying to rediscover his long lost promise and form.

    Midfielders who are meant to make things happen are way too deep in midfield and wingers have stretched the pitch to breaking point without really doing damage where it matters.

    If Peseiro should persist with his 4-2-4, I think he should learn to hide his intentions. Give the impression of a defensive outlook before breaking out offensively when the opposition least expects.

    We are going all guns blazing without sufficient ammunition.

    So far Peseiro’s approach hasn’t worked. Our opponents deploy the right number of bodies to foil his plans.

    So, unless this coach can introduce cunning and unpredictable variations to his tactical approach, his ambitions of winning the Afcon is pure fantasy.

    • dep?
      It’s deo o.

      I think the team looks organised. They also do the basics right and they get into promising positions.

      But, again, we reveal our intentions to such a degree that even average sides like Lesotho and Guinea Bissau effectively shut up shop before our strikers can pull the trigger.

      My observation: when Eguavoen stayed disciplined with 4-4-2 with the wingers arriving late and even the centre forward falling deep, he had success. When he became reckless (and arrogant) with 4 strikers often high up the pitch for long periods, he lost his way.

      I think Peseiro’s formation is assuming a 4-2-4 outlook for for extended periods in game. Against Algeria and Portugal, he showed them respect by stationing the 2 wingers more closer to the midfielders that the strikers giving a genuine 4-4-2 outlook and introducing a level of unpredictability.

      Anyway, what do I know?

      4-2-4 is arrogant and when you and your players can’t even pull it off you will be made to look like a fool.

      When it was 30 minutes into the Lesotho match and we hadn’t stamped our authority, you have to question the wisdom of having 4 isolated strikers upfront.

      Anyway, Man dem (to coin a phrase from Glory) no be coach.

  • Bobo Colorado Springs 12 months ago

    This draw is a loss, I am seeing a repeat of 2006 disaster if care is not taken, Rwanda and Zimbabwe were also in our group in 2006 world cup qualifying. That home draw with Angola came to hunt us at the last game, and Angola qualified for no apparent reason. This time around is going to be South Africa not Angola that will be taking advantage of this slip up. Let us pray that South Africa don’t win on Saturday, if they do is going to be very difficult for Nigeria to qualify because all these teams from the south will likely favor South Africa towards the end.

  • Resilient Lesotho indeed facing a Super Eagle Team that lack Coaching strategies its really unfortunate we have gonevthus low & With what i see in Uzoho against Lesotho (Ranked 156) match today shows we don’t truly know what we are doing in the goal keeping department ,As for Coach Peisairo How can a Coach have so much pool of talented players of this magnitudes but fails repeatedly on how to square them in certain targets for each matches hhhhhmm? What was Moses Simon doing in bench that he couldn’t start him in this match up untill we conceded in the second half of the match?For me if NFF fails to sack him & brought in Competent Local Coaching Crew then we should kiss the World Cup qualifiers good bye because South Africa will qualify ahead of us meanwhile the coming Nations Cup in Abidjan will be a another debacle if this current coaching crew is to leads us in January. I rest my case enough said because as it stands today everything about Nigeria is indeed sick begging for healing.Up Super Eagle that’s ambitious in remaining matches ahead.

  • BigCole 12 months ago

    I’ve said it before that this Peseiro is very clueless and can’t take us anywhere, he’s only banking on our players personal brilliance to excel and now he’s been exposed. This one is going to disgrace us at afcon I’m telling you.

  • Selfmade KING 12 months ago

    lol … sorry my Nigerian brothers! Ghana ll follow u guys too hahaa 

  • Dr. Drey 12 months ago

    Zimbabwe and Lesotho are annexes of South Africa, infact most of their players probably play in the South African league. Their citizens flood south Africa for ecnomonic opportunities. As a matter of fact, their “home and away” matches in this qualifiers will be played in the dreaded Orlando Stadium in Soweto (I believe).

    If you know, you know. If you don’t gerrit, forget abourit…!

    This ticket is South Africa’s to lose.

    Bush rat wey dem dey rear to sacrifice to the gods b4, wey come go escape, fall inside bucket of petrol, na him sacrifice imsef to the gods o.

    When I told y’all Rohr will be crucial to our qualification or non-qualification for the 2026 world cup, y’all rained all sorts of insults under the heavens on me….LMAooo.

    Our only antidote to the southern African gang-up, in many ways that one, would end up being Rohr.

    Once again, If you know, you know. If you don’t gerrit, forget abourit…!

    • Legendary 12 months ago

      When I saw the stress runners up will go through to qualify for the world cup, I was like aahh.

      Runners up will play playoffs then go to play interconfedration playoffs again lol

  • Ifeanyi Odogo 12 months ago

    The last time Nigeria won nation cup, it was a local player from Rangers Sunday Mbah that single handedly gave Nigeria that cup, against Almighty Cote d’Ivoire then and final against Burkina Faso, when Enyeama was called into national team,he was at Enyimba, from there he went abroad but today anybody even if plays at Afghanistan, he is PRO, he is qualified to play for Nigeria. The truth is that our committed players as of today are mostly on local league.the modern football is no longer only skills but being committed, eg Nigerians Falcon are not rated in world of football but we saw committed girls that want to make name for themselves, have we ever thought over this that over 70 percent of falcons being women cut their hairs while about 70 percent of our so called super Eagles plate their hairs, I am not saying that cutting hair or plaiting hair has much to do in football but it shows you how committed the fommer was,can’t we see the commitment of Sunday Mbah yet then we have pool of Nigeria players then playing in top league

  • Ifeanyi Odogo 12 months ago

    Nigeria has a very beautiful league, in over 20 teams playing in Nigeria premier league, we could not get common 1 or 2 keepers, even midfielders in our national team is total fuck up, that we cannot get good five committed midfielders in Nigeria league, who hath bewitched Nigeria. It is only strikers I can accept we have better players abroad. Let me assure you guys, this team cannot perform more than a dead rat. Nigeria don’t have a men’s national team, unless someone wants to die before his time because he is supporting a bunch of uncommitted players.

  • This plates need to show commitment.
    2.The coach is too rigid
    3.we need a natural creative midfielder Nacho can stand in for now.
    4. No leader in this team..
    5 . osimhen need to be fit for all our games, he his the only player with the charisma to carry the team along.

  • I forgot to say do away with that gaol watcher. Why Parry a ball that is obviously going wide, the resultant corner kick produced the goal

  • The team needs minor fixes, All the people shouting home based, can you name them and who are they better than in the particular role. This SE needs a no 10- attacking midfielder. If there is one in NPFL mention and the news will fly. The problem now is the 4-4-2 and the personnel. 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 is the way to go . Even 3-5-2 is a better devil.

    If you watch the match the right wing was non existent, So next match Use Tella or RW and drop Awoniyi use Kelechi as 2nd striker as he can play AM.


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