The goalkeeper and captain of the senior national team of Lesotho Sekhoane Benedict Moerane says his team will defeat the senior national team of Nigeria when both teams clash at the Godswill Akpabio stadium in Uyo, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Lesotho will begin the quest to be at the 2026 World Cup with their first game of the series against the senior national team of Nigeria later today. Moerane is looking at the game with the hope of an upset which will favour his team.

Speaking at the pre match conference ahead of the game, Moerane said although the Super Eagles is a better team and are expected to win, they will approach the game with respect and not fear for their opponent.

“Looking forward to the game tomorrow (Thursday, November 16), I’ll say it will be a difficult game”, Sekhoane Moerane responded sharply.

He continued: “We’re going to play a big team, Nigeria, one of the best in Africa, but since its not the first time (we are) playing against Nigeria, I think tomorrow’s game is going to be a difficult game.

“We’re going to expect a lot from Nigeria. They are going to take the game to us. But as you can see in todays (Wednesday’s) opening group C games, it ended 0-0 between Rwanda and Zimbabwe.

“That’s the game of football for you. So, I think the Super Eagles gonna take the game to us in order for them to take the three points.

“So, we’re expecting a lot from them but we’re not going to respect them. Yeah, we’re not going to fear them. We, too, will be taking the game to them as well”, Moerane boasted.

When reminded about the start studded nature of the Nigerian team , he insist they will hold their own against the Super Eagles despite the fact that most of their players ply their trade in the local scene in Lesotho unlike the Nigerian team.

“We know that Super Eagles are a good team with a lot of players. They have only one player from the home league but we’ve got almost six from outside with majority of the rest playing in Lesotho, including myself.
So, may the better team win”.

Super Eagles claimed victory in all previous four confrontations with The Crocodiles. Moerane admits turning the tide especially in this fixture heaps loads of pressure on them.

“Yes, a lot of pressure, lots of pressure on our shoulders”, he admitted.

“But,I think tomorrow, we gonna bring the game to them (the Eagles). We are expecting to win and they (Super Eagles) to win too”.

He rounded up by saying that their expectatio I do be at the 2026 world cup. “We’re expecting to qualify for the World Cup 2026”, he concluded.

Ade Emmanuel

The plans to have former goalkeeper and captain of the senior national team of Nigeria Vincent Enyeama to be a part of the set up of the team in the wake of the goalkeeper crisis rocking the team has been vetoed by head coach of the team Jose Peseiro.

A chieftain of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) told OwnGoalNigeria.com that the football house will draft the former Lille shot stopper to the team in an ambassadorial capacity to help lift the morale of the current shot stoppers in the team.

The idea is for Enyeama to help them respond better to backlashes from the fans as he  was once at the receiving end of same kind of attack suffered by  the goalkeepers,  particularly the first choice Francis Uzoho.

Peseiro admitted that the pressure that comes with the criticism has weakened the confidence of the goalkeepers in the team leading to errors as witnessed recently in the friendly games against Saudi Arabia and Mozambique respectively.

At the pre match presser ahead of the game against Lesotho, he was asked if he thinks bringing back the former goalkeeper to speak with the likes of Uzoho and co particularly with the game taking place in the hometow of the former Super Eagles captain, the Portuguese coach blanked the question by saying he doesn’t know him.

Pressed further on the same matter he ended the conversation by saying he has faith in the present trainers for the shot stoppers hinting that he doesn’t need Enyeama.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has explained why Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye was replaced in the sqaud of the team for the world cup qualifiers games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively.

Okoye was named in the original 23 man list for the games but two days ago as we exclusively reported he withdrew from the game with Bendel Insurance goalkeeper Amas Obasogie taking his spot for the games.

No reason was given for his withdrawal from the sqaud, but while speaking at the pre game presser yesterday Peseiro revealed why he withdrew from the sqaud ahead of their first game in the qualifiers series today.

“I have confidence in our goalkeepers. Of course in this moment Adeleye could not come because he didn’t play now in Israel. Maduka could not come because of the problem with his passport”, the coach said.

“Uzoho was our goalkeeper in qualification. He only didn’t play one match, it was Adeleye that played against Sierra Leone. Now there’s Ojo and Amas. I believe in our goalkeepers, I believe in Uzoho also.”

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The senior national team of Nigeria had their final training session ahead of tomorrow’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho in Uyo, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Head coach of the team Jose Peseiro gave an idea of how the team will line up for the game with the way he lined the players up against themselves in today’s final training session.

Francis Uzoho is sure to start with Ola Aina favoured to be the right back of the team while Jamilu Collins will start at left back with Bruno Onyemaechi sitting out today’s session, due to the knock he picked up while on duty for his team Boavista over the weekend.

Calvin Bassey will continue his partnership with Semi Ajayi as in central defence with stand in captain Kenneth Omeruo dropping to the bench with Chidozie Awaziem as back up to the duo.

In the absence of Wilfred Ndidi, the duo of Frank Onyeka and Alex Iwobi will start in the midfield, Iwobi will be the most advanced of the duo. On the flank Kelechi Iheanacho keeps his position as the right winger ahead of the duo of Ademola Lookman and newly invited Nathan Tella.

Moses Simon is favoured to start on the left. The two man attack will be led by Victor Boniface playing just behind the main striker which for now appears to be Terem Moffi ahead of Taiwo Awoniyi based on how the team were lined up in training today.

Below is how they were lined up in training.

Team A

Francis Uzoho
Ola Aina
Jamilu Collins
Semi Ajayi
Calvin Bassey
Alex Iwobi
Frank Onyeka
Moses Simon
Kelechi Iheanacho
Victor Boniface
Terem Moffi

Team B

Olorunleke Ojo
Bright Osayi-Samuel
Kenneth Omeruo
Chidozie Awaziem
Raphael Onyedika
Nathan Tella
Joe Aribo
Taiwo Awoniyi
Sadiq Umar
Ademola Lookman

The senior national team of Nigeria had their final training session ahead of tomorrow’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho in Uyo, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Head coach of the team Jose Peseiro gave an idea of how the team will line up for the game with the way he lined the players up against themselves in today’s final training session.

Francis Uzoho is sure to start with Ola Aina favoured to be the right back of the team while Jamilu Collins will start at left back with Bruno Onyemaechi sitting out today’s session, due to the knock he picked up while on duty for his team Boavista over the weekend.

Calvin Bassey will continue his partnership with Semi Ajayi as in central defence with stand in captain Kenneth Omeruo dropping to the bench with Chidozie Awaziem as back up to the duo.

In the absence of Wilfred Ndidi, the duo of Frank Onyeka and Alex Iwobi will start in the midfield, Iwobi will be the most advanced of the duo. On the flank Kelechi Iheanacho keeps his position as the right winger ahead of the duo of Ademola Lookman and newly invited Nathan Tella.

Moses Simon is favoured to start on the left. The two man attack will be led by Victor Boniface playing just behind the main striker which for now appears to be Terem Moffi ahead of Taiwo Awoniyi based on how the team were lined up in training today.

Below is how they were lined up in training.

Team A

Francis Uzoho
Ola Aina
Jamilu Collins
Semi Ajayi
Calvin Bassey
Alex Iwobi
Frank Onyeka
Moses Simon
Kelechi Iheanacho
Victor Boniface
Terem Moffi

Team B

Olorunleke Ojo
Bright Osayi-Samuel
Kenneth Omeruo
Chidozie Awaziem
Raphael Onyedika
Nathan Tella
Joe Aribo
Taiwo Awoniyi
Sadiq Umar
Ademola Lookman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has declared that Francis Uzoho is still the best option among the goalkeepers available to him, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Speaking at the pre game presser ahead of the game against Lesotho in Uyo, the coach was asked about the goalkeepers crisis in the team with his current first choice Francis Uzoho guilty of unforced errors.

He defended him and said despite the presence of others like Maduka Okoye, Olorunleke Ojo, Amas Obasogie and Adebayo Adeleye, the Omonia Nicosia goalkeeper still remains the first choice.

“Uzoho is our goalkeeper, Okoye, Ojo, Amas and Adeleye are our goalkeepers. I am not stupid, I want to play the best players, but it is my confidence to play Uzoho as the number one”, the coach said.

His statement was backed by the stand-in captain of the team Kenneth Omeruo, who said Uzoho still remains the best in the team and has the support of the team to do well. “Uzoho is the best goalkeeper in the team and we are behind him”, he said.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Bayer Leverkusen winger Nathan Tella has taken his time to explain to fans of the senior national team of Nigeria what he will bring to the attack of the team, if he gets to play in the world cup qualifiers game against Lesotho on Thursday in Uyo.

Tella is in the list of 23 players called up by head coach of the Super Eagles Jose Peseiro for not just the game on Thursday, but also on the 19th when they will take on Zimbabwe in their second game of the series.

Born in England to parents of Nigerian descent, the 24 year old who is joining the team for the first time was asked what his qualities are, and what fans should expect if he gets to play against Lesotho.

He praised the qualities of the players in the team saying he is just excited to be among the best players in the country and he is hoping to give his best in both games.

“Someone who is direct, full of runs in behind, loves to get into one v one situations,. Likes to dribble, assist and score for my team”, he told the official media of the senior national team of Nigeria.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The camp of the senior national team of Nigeria has come alive with the arrival of all but one of the players called up for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers game against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Ahead of the game head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro called up 23 players with the first game to take place in Uyo on the 16th, before a trip to Kigali to take on Zimbabwe on the 19th.

They will have their first full training session today with 22 players expected to take part including two goalkeepers. The only player yet to join the camp of the team is Amas Obasogie who was called up as a replacement for Maduka Okoye yesterday evening.

He is however expected to be in the camp before the team set out for training by 5pm today. Below is the list of players in the camp of the team.

Super Eagles Players in Camp:

Goalkeepers:

The decision of Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro to leave out the duo of Chuba Akpom and Jerome Akor caused lot of debates when the list of players for the world cup qualifiers was made public.

Peseiro called up 23 players but left out the duo in preference for players who don’t have the same level of numbers that the duo are taking this season for their respective teams in league games.

Akpom has scored four goals in his last three games for Dutch giants Ajax as they continue to recover from what is their worst ever start to a season in their history. He only joined the team in the summer from English Championship side Middlesbrough.

Akor who also moved to Ligue 1 side Montpellier in the summer from Norwegian side Lillestrom has taken the league by storm with seven goals in his first eleven games, only Kylian Mbappe has more goals than him in the league.

They were however not in the list of players called up by Peseiro for the games against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively in the 2026 world cup qualifiers, a development which we gathered is based on the policy of the Portuguese coach on new players in his team.

OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the coach has a policy of not calling more than one new player in his squad and even when he calls more than one, he will only play one. The policy we gathered is his way of trying to build the team with some players as the core of his team.

He believes calling lots of new players will obstruct the project of building a team of players who are used to his ideas style of play and what is demanded of them both on and off the pitch.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

When the senior national team of Zimbabwe released the list of players called up to the team for the world cup qualifiers games against Rwanda and Nigeria respectively, Liverpool 19 year old right back Isaac Mabaya was the shock inclusion in the list, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

He was named in the provisional list of 27 players called up for both games, but wasn’t included in the final 23 players selected by head coach Baltemar Brito three days ago.

Mabaya who has endured a torried time with injuries since making his first team breakthrough last year in pre season with the first team is slowly walking his way back to full fitness after almost a year out with games for the B team.

Born in Preston to parents of Zimbabwean descent he has represented England at various levels but still remains eligible for Zimbabwe as he is yet to be capped at senior level, but it appears that like previous times he has once again rejected the chance to switch nationality.

In March last year his father told the Herald that his son who can also play in midfield isn’t going to play for Zimbabwe due to complications around his dual nationality status. The same situation is likely why he isn’t in the final list of 23 players for their upcoming games.

“He does not have dual-citizenship,” Mabaya’s father, David, told the Herald in March of last year.

“We realised it’s too complicated to play for Zimbabwe, [with] passports etc., it’s a bit of a hassle.”