Completesports.com’s live blogging of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers Group C matchday 9 game between the Crocodiles of Lesotho and the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium Polokwane, South Africa.
Lesotho vs Nigeria Live Blogging – 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Group C Matchday 9
Nnamdi Ezekute
Nnamdi Ezekute, a sports reporting expert, has risen through the ranks at Complete Communications Limited (CCL) famed for publications like Complete Sports.
Email: [email protected]
X (Formerly Twitter): @Ezekutive
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Go Nigeria.
WHERE I THE MATCH MATCH?
its on fifa plus website or fifa plus app
Fifa+ on fifa.com
Yuh can wash march at marsh wash – did yuh had washing mashine?
This is so pathetic to watch, 0-0 in the first half.
This team is going no where.
Wike, the team is weak
Ďoes anyone still need further evidence that this team is poorly coached…..?
We are playing lesotho and we haven’t managed to fashion out any decent goalscoring opportunity in 45 mins.
Our tactic is so elementary, pedestrain and obvious even to the blind.
I don’t think this Chelle guy even studied his opponent before drafting his match plans……cos what the hell us all this rubbish….???!
This is true. The game is bad.
Shattap! Ewu. Robbish
Please Enough if this toothless play. Samson Siasia should be drafted back into the National team. Gone are those days when attacking was sharp and effective. Now it’s gather and play and zero shots going into the net.
Sentiment aside, Siasia will do a better job.
My people. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but did the coach really set out this team to score??? Nigeria looks more like a bunch of talented individuals without team cohesion or a tactical plan.
I thought they said anybody can coach our star studded team, all the letter writers have stopped writing letters. They will be somewhere rejoicing we are missing two world cup in a row… last last,na Eguardiola go carry us go afcon….
Yuh means deo, sly, papfem larry abi na harry an al de odas? lmaoo. Na true were dem dey oo lool
Truly Super falcons for play diz match i swear. Dem for don atleast score goal. Like Monkey Post dey always adk, where is Esther Okoronkwo as she is definitely better on d ball than this tin wen Chelle put for field i swear. Most likely na 1:0 9ja go use win diz game if at all..Chelle don really fall my hand. I be a big fan of d guy but diz selection for dis match no folo at all. This is a match meant for Chukwueze-Lookman-Simon with Osihmen as point man. Speed with dribbling ability. With the trio of Chukwueze-Lookman-Simon rotating as the attacker next to victor Osihmen. Diz tin weak me. By diz time SA don alreafy score Lesotho like 2 goals if my memory serves me correctly. Here we have back to back african player of d year and we can’t fadhion clearcut opportunities. Ndid sef is a spent force, he should just go rest abeg always playing -ve football. We complain se Mikel dey do sideway passes but can u company Ndidi to Mikel? Tolu na just horse, d guy no sabi to be honest, 4get d goals against russia and rwanda, u know good player wen u see one. As bad as Iheanacho be, wen it comes to finishing, not many can fit wirk reach am for this Super chickens. As bad as boniface even be, he is a better player skill wise than Tolu, he was never given a chance to pair osihmen. See d one friendly game wen dem pair am with Osihmen, them click wella. Boniface no be a lone striker in my view, he will thrive with an Osihmen way beyter than Tolu but most no go understand. Skill full for Boniface but social media dey enta him head naim dey cause him mumuness. Anyhow good luck to super chickens dem go really need am.
My broda una dey see d impact of Adams and Chukwueze for the 2nd half? U can’t put 2 tall strikers together as point men. See the stature of Adams, thick and strong. Solid balance on d ball.
1 goal.
Samson siasia to the rescue, haaha see the way they just playing. Poor movement of football.
Wike this play is worthless.
Adams scores for 9ja from a brilliant pass from VO9
Nwabali no sabi a beg simple ball, he dropped. Yeye dey smell.
This stupid overconfidence of Nwabali would cost us someday.
Well done to Zimbabwe.
Benin will play blood and sweat on Tuesday.
This is true. Benin can go to the world cup.
Rohr is about to do the unthinkable. He’s on the verge of qualifying Benin for their first WC at the expense of Nigeria. From the very beginning I kept saying Benin may qualify, not because of the players but because they have Rohr. It’ll be a disgrace to Nigeria if he pulls this off.
Benin are far better than others in this group.
Yuh are very fullish man. mscheeeuw!
Btw looks like Lookman won’t be eligible to play the next match. He’s on 2 yellow cards.
No, he won’t play on Tuesday; otherwise, we lose the game automatically.
What has he done since the last 3 games? Chukzy need to Dey start our game at least for now, God bless federick for me, that boy is just too much. Well we just have to keep the hope alive anyways, who said we can’t win Benin by 2-0 and hopefully Rwanda won’t let their guard down and do us a favor like Zimbabwe, this Zimbabwe really won my heart today, I expect SA to win them but kudos to them for the sportsmanship they displayed.
Hmmmmm……
Hmmmmmm…….Rohr needs a draw to qualify Benin for the WC.
Rohr always gets whatever results he needs to qualify for tournaments ó.
Hmmmmm……hmmmmmm
With this tactically bankrupt Chelle that cannot score more than 1 goal from open play per match…….hmmmmmmm……I don talk my own o.
Abeg after our next match…..NFF should not bother renewing Chelle’s contract Biko……I beg them with the name of whatever gods they worship……they should allow the man dust his scandals and leave in peace.
Ogunmodede and Ilechukwu should take over and lead this team to afcon please.
When Nwabali stupidly dropped the ball from the Lesotho corner kick, it bounced in front of Ndidi. But as usual, the Lesotho player beat him to the second ball to score.
If Rwanda pulls a draw with SA, and Nigeria beats Benin by a goal to nil, Benin will still qualify on goals difference and head-to-head.
We need to win 3-0 and hope Rwanda pulls a draw in SA to qualify automatically.
If SA beats Rwanda and Benin pulls a draw here (which is possible given our toothless tactical plays). Benin will win the group and SA will be second, and Nigeria out.
It’s a pity Lookman is out for Tuesday.
Nope, 2 unreply goal is what we need to overtake Benin, but with this toothless style of play, I dnt see us not conceding against Benin. I will pair bassey and federick in the backline, flanks by zaidu on the LB and nwazien as my RB on Tuesday, Ekong is gone and why did Chelle leave Bruno on the pitch the entire 90minutes? What’s the connection between this two guys though.
We had better let Benin go to the WC instead of South Africa.
A lowly team that has played all it’s matches away from home, yet topping a group that has Almighty Nigeria and South Africa with 2 points going into the last game of the qualifiers is the most deserving of a place in the world cup.
God of the just, please do this for Benin republic.
It’s better the 2 loudmouths of the continent sit this world cup out. Our enemies (South Africa) should not qualify for the world cup in a group that has Nigeria. The mockery will be till eternity.
Although I truly want us to go, deep down I know we dont deserve it. Maybe if we can prove it through second place route. That being the case, if not us then Benin is who I’d root for
I beg to disagree, let Benin earn it, if Zimbabwe of all team could hold SA to a goalless draw in a match they already have zero hope of qualification and that playing shot 1 for the last 25 minutes of the game, that’s a good sportsmanship right there. Nigeria can still qualify, Rwanda might hold SA to draw or even beat them, let every team earn the top spot, I will definitely prefer Benin ahead of SA but not when we have a chance as well.
This Nwabali is also a very poor goal keeper, he almost cost us this win today. See the last chance Lesotho had, they could’ve equalized and dashed 259 million nigerians hope. Must he concede every game? He can only keep a clean sheet wnen we packed the bus with like 5 defenders. He was the culprit of d afcon final against ivory coast. He is letting dat 1st choice goalie shit get into dat fat head of his. What kind of goalie concedes every game. The sooner Chelle starts trying the Obasogie the better or source for anoda goalie. How dis guy is better than Okoye is beyond me? Tho Okoye leaves alot to desire. Nwabali needs to sit on d bench for a few games to correct his brain. Regarding our match against Rwanda, Chelle has no business not starting Chukwueze in dis match. I would say play Onyeka-Ndidi-Iwobi in this game while u play Chukwueze on RW and Simon on d LW with Chukwueze-Iwobi interchanging positions. Iwobi plays on d Wing in Fulham so it won’t be a problem for him to switch with Chukwueze and give Chukwueze the artacking midfield role. They should constantly be interchanging while Simon is left on the LW. Then 2nd half u bring in Adams to pair Osihmen upfront. We need to dominate dat midfield with an engine room to do all d marking and running, which Frank d Tank can bring. He and Ndidi’s job are to win d ball and give it to d forwards. Chukwueze has more goals in him than Simon and Iwobi in my view hence he must play dis match. 2nd half u yank off Simon and bring in Adams to partner Osihmen upfront while chukwueze and Iwobi now stays wide. Osihmen has to play full 90+ mins dis game as whenever he is taken off our play just fizzles out. Backline should be LB Saidu Sanusi, RB Benjamin Frederick, CBs Semi Ajayi and Calvin Bassey
In case anyone is not clear about what happened in the Zimbabwe vs South Africa game tonight- here’s a thought…
We’ve all heard the saying – “you’ve made your bed now lie in it”
I think South Africa made their bed and they definitely had to lie in it tonight lmaoo – Zimbabwe had nothing to lose or gain in that game tonight and under normal circumstances they might not have taken the game so seriously tonight but after South Africa’s crazy xenophobia perpetrated against us and the Zimbabweans, the Zimbabweans came out swinging to make a statement tonight and pay them back in their own currency and they did big time!
They’ve been saying all week that this is their first opportunity to show those plonkers how they feel about the South African xenophobia and boy did they make a statement!
They may not have beaten them, which is what they really wanted to do, but at least they did the least they could have done by stopping them from getting the 3 points that would have seriously helped their chances and in their own country too lmaaoo!
Trust me, this is just the beginning, South Africa are really going to start feeling the heat from Zimbabwe and Nigeria from now on, and Ghana will hear wein fron Nigeria henceforth too lol, they did not engage their brains when they were high on whatever they were high on and acting up, showing a brainless xenophobia against fellow Africans, and especially the ones that have helped them the most historically – that is what happened tonight, they will currently be in shock at the stark realisation that they actually are not as good as they think they are, and when the chips are down they can’t even beat Zimbabwe who are not really a footballing nation and have been using their country for all their home games lol, imagine it is Zimbabwe that threw the first spanner in their World Cup plans hahahaha!
I will be so happy for them to miss out and if Nigeria don’t make it (we don’t deserve it to be fair) then I’ll be more than happy for Benin to take the ticket. Word!
You are wrong a little. It will be cruel for one group (E) to have only 5 teams and the remaining 8 have 6 teams and now calculate the best 4 second place finishers for continental playoff spot.
So, CAF is set to nullify the points got against bottom placed teams in the other 8 groups to give this group E that should have had Eritrea a fair fight for playoff spot.
South Africa didn’t want to have 6 points removed from them by beating Zimbabwe twice.
You know, we drew them twice so if it comes to playoff spot, 2 points will be deducted from us.
SA must have done their calculations. Benin would get 4 points deducted from theirs also as they beat and drew Zimbabwe so South Africa wants us to beat Benin in case they can’t beat rwanda (I doubt it sha) and if it comes to second spot dragging, benin would drop if we really beat them to first place.
All Nigeria needs to do is win at least 2-0 on Tuesday and either qualify for the world cup or go through the playoffs. With this new rule from CAF regarding the playoffs after the withdrawal of Eritrea only Gabon (22pts – 6pts) and Cameron (18pts – 4pts) seems to be ahead of Nigeria (14pts – 2pts), so the ball is still in the super eagles court!
Let Benin beat us first.For me i will always root for my country.
Nigeria all the way.
Gernot Rohr is a mercenary whose allegiance is to Germany maybe France only.He works for his money and will be very glad to win against Nigeria.Why should I give my support to an individual who care less about me over my country?I shall support my country till the end and I’m optimistic we shall qualify either outrightly or other ways.
I am not bothered about other countries when it comes to sports my support only goes to Nigeria and Great Britain.
You are a true SuperEagles fan @Greenturf. My support for my country first. Let Benin Republic earn it if they truly deserve to be at the WorldCup. We must beat them by every means possible on Tuesday. Rwanda can still do us a favor by holding or even beat SA. Iyanu Ma Chelle.
VAMOS ARRIBBA SUPEREAGLES!!!!
Like, to think we still have chance ooo and some dude suggesting we shd sell the match.
Yea…..It is not some dude…it is me Dr.Drey.
Yes I said it before and I will say it again……lets sell the match, because win or lose, we are still not qualifying for the WC.
SA is not dumb, they may have toyed with the match against Zimbabwe because they felt Zimbabwe is bottom of the group and their coach denigrated them on his pre match press conference, but they are definitely not going to toy with the Rwanda game. They need to win and they will win Rwanda come what may. Rwanda can hardly even pass the ball out of their own half.
And if SA is beating Rwanda we defeating Benin would only mean we are handing over the free ticket to the World cup to our no 1 enemies on the continent. They will even use it to taunt us till eternity that despite being deducted points, they still qualified for the world cup ahead of us.
And please forget the playoffs, we are not making that either.
So lets just sell the match vs Benin so we dont end up losing on all fronts. At least the NFF can use the money to offset Chelle’s owed salaries so we dont get sued to FIFA again after Chelle’s contract ends………LMAOoooo
Moreover, a team with 2nd and 3rd division players playing all their qualifiers away from home is more deserving of the WC than a bunch of stars who struggle to defeat Lesotho. The same Lesotho we huffed and puffed against got walloped by Benin. They got 4 points off Zimbabwe, got 6 points off Rwanda, and beat us on a neutral ground, and I wouldn’t be shocked if we struggle against them on home soil on tuesday too…….LMAOooo
Kosi wahala, we aren’t selling any match, let Benin win us and qualify, I will be happy for them ahead of SA, but the fact we still have 1/2 % chance of qualification, we aren’t given it up.
Hello, my dear Nigerians. Be patient with our darling Super Eagles.
You will see new Eagles after we qualify for the World Cup.
What they are doing now is to do whatever it takes to qualify. The pressure is too much for our team but I believe our boys will scale through by God’s grace.
I will never say ordinary Lesotho Nigeria were struggling to beat but my people, remember that every team in Africa wants to beat Nigeria to make a name.
As I said before, Nigeria will top the group and qualify for the World Cup.
What is happening in group C is happening for a reason, and I believe Nigeria will qualify for the World Cup.
Chelle hasn’t had a chance to build this team to his taste yet, but I believe after Tuesday, when we have the World Cup ticket in our bag, then many good players will come in and many players will have to leave.
God is in control. It is not over yet. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Iyanu Ma Chelle!!! But God abeg. I want to watch my SuperEagles again in the Americas.
Iyanu le ma chelle because other country too are not idol worshiper ho.
Even God reward hardwork.
You mean South Africa who have vehemently opposed Israel? Do you not know about the prophesy? God’s decree concerning Israel, His chosen people? Do you think anyone that opposes Israel are truly aligned with God’s vision on earth? Nna reconsider your stand and I pray that Nigeria or Benin are the ones who take the ticket. Ameen
What prophesy? do you know how many country’s is condemning Israel. Even many countries are asking for them to be excused from the world cup qualifiers. For your info, the jews don’t believe in Jesus Christ.
Bro – your response shows how very little you know. Ah! o mase o!
Are you a Christian or a muslim?
So even if 1 million countries and more are condemning Israel, does that come anywhere God’s authority? Kai!
Oga go and learn so that it will stand you in good stead o! We are in the end times if you haven’t heard
Let them beat us first. They still have to go through my SuperEagles. For us to still have a chance until the final day says a lot about our resiliency.
Iyanu gbọdọ Chelle.