The Super Eagles of Nigeria have played against Lesotho thrice in the past six years, winning two of those games…
A place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is at stake in CAF Qualification Group C, with the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Benin and South Africa gunning for one spot, Soccernet.ng reports.
In a bid to progress, Eric Chelle‘s side have to defeat the Crocodiles of Lesotho today at the Peter Makoba Stadium, Polokwane, Pietersburg, South Africa, with kick-off time set for 17:00 local time.
Lesotho’s head coach, Leslie Notši, boasted of his squad being at full strength, having nothing to fear ahead of the highly-anticipated fixture.
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What Lesotho coach said ahead of Super Eagles clash
Speaking in his pre-match conference, the 61-year-old admitted the game against Nigeria will be a tough one.
“Fortunately, we don’t have any serious injuries that we can worry about coming into this fixture. So, Its a clean bill of health for us.
“A fixture that we are expecting a tough match playing one of the best in the continent.
“A team that consists some of the best players on our continent playing in the best leagues in Europe.”
However, the coach is keen on frustrating Nigeria, stating he looks forward to recreating 1-1 result that surfaced when both sides last met in November 2023.
“We are approaching this match knowing it’s not going to be easy, but the self belief that we have had before, in our previous encounter.
“We believe, we have an opportunity to continue where we left off in our last match in November 2023.
“Truly, it has given us hope to redeem ourselves in the last two fixtures we played.
“It has given us hope that we can secure points that we believe can put Lesotho at a better stage,” Mr Notši concluded.
Lesotho basically have nothing to fight for, as their hopes of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is non-existent.
They’ve accrued nine points from eight games, have a goal difference of -3, and are currently 5th in the group standings.