{"id":100778,"date":"2023-11-14T11:03:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T10:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho"},"modified":"2023-11-14T13:19:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T12:19:22","slug":"super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho","title":{"rendered":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.<\/p>\n

The World Cup qualifier will take place at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.<\/p>\n

Jose Peseiro, the head coach of the Super Eagles, has already released his 23-man squad to tackle Lesotho.<\/p>\n

Peseiro\u2019s squad boasts of the likes of Leicester City\u2019s Kelechi Iheanacho, Atalanta\u2019s Ademola Lookman, Fulham\u2019s Alex Iwobi, Brentford\u2019s Frank Onyeka, Nottingham Forest stars Taiwo Awoniyi and Olaoluwa Aina, among others.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Peseiro will be without the likes of key players such as Napoli\u2019s Victor Osimhen, AC Milan\u2019s Samuel Chukwueze and Leicester City\u2019s Wilfred Ndidi against Lesotho.<\/p>\n

Nigeria and Lesotho have played three games since 2007 and the 2013 AFCON Champions have won all three games.<\/p>\n

The West African giants will be expected to do the same when they host Leslie Notsi\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Nigeria are in Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.<\/p>\n

They will subsequently face the likes of Zimbabwe, Benin, South Africa and Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Nigeria head to the game after beating Mozambique 3-2 and playing a 2-2 draw against Saudi Arabia in their last friendly games in October.<\/p>\n

Prior to the last two friendly games, the Super Eagles had lost eight games and won five under Peseiro, who was appointed as the team\u2019s head coach on May 15, 2022.<\/p>\n

When asked for his opinion on the World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Lesotho, Alpha Markus Sidi, Wakanda FC midfielder, told DAILY POST that Peseiro\u2019s men have the players that can execute the job despite the absence of Osimhen and Ndidi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a tough game but I expect Nigeria to take advantage of playing at home and beat Lesotho. The Lesotho game will be their first match of the World Cup qualifying series and it is very important to start with a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also expect the Super Eagles to be too strong for Lesotho despite the absence of Osimhen, Ndidi and Chukwueze.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to name the Super Eagles players to watch out for, Sidi added, \u201cObviously, Awoniyi, he scored for Nottingham Forest over the weekend. He recently came back from injury and he is in form. I expect him to do well in this game, lead the attack in Osimhen\u2019s absence and also be on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother player to watch out for is Frank Onyeka, who plays for Brentford in England. He has been brilliant for the Super Eagles in their previous games, so I expect him to control the midfield in Ndidi\u2019s absence. Ola Aina is another player to watch out for. He is a regular player for Nottingham Forest. He gave an assist against West Ham in their last game and even scored a goal against Aston Villa some days ago. I expect him to shine against Lesotho.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, the man from Atalanta, Lookman. He is a very good player who can dribble past opponents, so he should also have a good game against Lesotho.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked for his prediction, Sidi said, \u201c2-0 in favour of the Super Eagles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kick-off time for Nigeria vs Lesotho is 5 pm.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup qualifier will take place at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo. Jose Peseiro, the head coach of the Super Eagles, has already released his 23-man squad to tackle Lesotho. Peseiro\u2019s squad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":100777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[1570,2140,254,453,123],"class_list":["post-100778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigeria","tag-super-eagles","tag-world-cup"],"yoast_head":"\nSuper Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup quali ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup quali ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-14T10:03:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-14T12:19:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-14T10:03:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-14T12:19:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\"},\"wordCount\":545,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Nigeria\",\"super eagles\",\"World Cup\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\",\"name\":\"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-14T10:03:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-14T12:19:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup quali ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg\",\"width\":1728,\"height\":1150,\"caption\":\"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho - Nigeria","description":"Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup quali ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho","og_description":"Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup quali ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2023-11-14T10:03:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-14T12:19:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1728,"height":1150,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho","datePublished":"2023-11-14T10:03:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-14T12:19:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho"},"wordCount":545,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Nigeria","Nigeria","super eagles","World Cup"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho","name":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-14T10:03:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-14T12:19:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Nigeria\u2019s Super Eagles will on Thursday evening take on Lesotho in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier. The World Cup quali ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/sm_1699947915.318577.jpg","width":1728,"height":1150,"caption":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sport\/super-eagles-ready-for-2026-world-cup-qualifier-showdown-against-lesotho#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Super Eagles ready for 2026 World Cup Qualifier showdown against Lesotho"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}