Coach Jose Peseiro Defends Super Eagles After 1-1 Draw With Lesotho

Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro has insisted that his players didn’t perform poorly even though they came from behind to draw with lowly-rated Lesotho in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state on Thursday.

Lesotho were expected to suffer an emphatic defeat at the hands of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in their opening 2026 World Cup qualifiers but that wasn’t the case as they left Nigeria with a 1-1 draw.

After drawing with Lesotho who are ranked 153rd in the world, 113 places lower than 40th-ranked Nigeria, at Godswill Akpabio Stadium, coach Peseiro stressed that the outcome of the game was not a true reflection of his team’s performance.

He said, “We had 76 percent of the ball possession to their 24 per cent. We played against a team that had just two shots while we were unlucky in the attack. We are sad about the result”.

South Africa and Benin Republic, who are yet to play a game in the 2026 World Cup qualification series, have the advantage in Group C after Nigeria’s draw with the minnows.

Thanks to the draw, Lesotho are currently topping the group with a point and an away goal. While Nigeria are currently ranked second. Rwanda and Zimbabwe, who played a goalless draw on Wednesday, are ranked third and fourth, respectively.

The Super Eagles will play Zimbabwe at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Rwandan stadium which is the adopted home ground of the Zimbabwean team.