NIGERIA’S senior men’s football team, Super Eagles, on Thursday began their campaign for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers with a 1-1 draw against Lesotho at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.

The much-anticipated match, which seemed to be a glimmer of hope for Nigeria to pick a ticket for the 2026 edition to be co-hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, having missed out on the World Cup fiesta in Qatar, cast doubt on the qualification of the Super Eagles to the World Cup.

Despite the Crocodiles of Lesotho being the underdog going into the match, they proved their critics wrong as they keenly contested the match on the soil of their host.

The visitors, who were resilient in the defence to deny their host taking the lead after several attempts, broke the deadlock of the match in the 55th minutes as they took the lead through Mkwanazi.

The Crocodiles’ joy for taking the lead was short-lived when, after 10 minutes, the Super Eagles restored parity through Semiu Ajayi, who nodded the ball in after connecting a corner kick from Kelechi Iheanacho.

The Super Eagles will face the Warriors of Zimbabwe at the Huye Stadium in Butare on Sunday, November 19, at the 20,000-capacity Huye Stadium, located in the city of Butare, which is 135 kilometers south of the Rwandan capital, Kigali, and has an artificial turf.

Zimbabwe has adopted Rwanda as a home for the qualifiers as no stadium in the southern African nation has been deemed fit to host the FIFA World Cup qualifying games.

Victory against Zimbabwe will put the Super Eagles in an advantageous position as Lesotho leads Group C with one point, and Nigeria trails in the second position.

Zimbabwe and Rwanda are in the third and fourth positions, respectively, while South Africa and Benin will slug it out against each other to determine their places.