Lesotho’s national team, The Crocodiles are expected to land in Lagos early Monday, ahead of their clash with Nigeria’s Super Eagles on Tuesday in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, megasportsarena.com reports.
It will be the final match of the qualifier for both sides, but they will enter the game with vastly divergent statuses, as he Eagles have already qualified for Cameroon 2022, while their visitors are completely out of reckoning for a ticket.
Nonetheless, the delegation from Lesotho will fly into Nigeria for Tuesday’s formality game, following their scoreless draw with visiting Sierra Leone in Maseru on Saturday, and will have their official training at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos on Monday evening.
Although nothing is at stake, the Eagles would be hoping to finish their Group L qualification campaign unbeaten, while Thabo Senong’s side, who sit at the base of the table with just three points, will be gunning for an unlikely first win after five matches.
In the reverse fixture played at Setsoto Stadium in Maseru, Rohr’s team claimed a 4-2 win, with Napoli’s Victor Osimhen netting a brace while Villareal’s Samuel Chukwueze and Everton’s Alex Iwobi were also on target.
Lesotho got their goals through Masoabi Nkoto’s 11th minute strike plus Chidozie Awaziem’s own goal, such that The Crocodiles would laos bank on some uncanny form of fortitude to again be on their side this Tuesday, when they step out at Teslim Balogun Stadium, which is set to host its first competitive match for the Nigerian national team.
The match commissioner, Haruna Mawanda from Uganda, and referees for the game at same venue earlier arrived in Nigeria on Sunday, while the security officer, Nick Owusu from Ghana, and referees’ assessor, Alex Kotey, also from Ghana, have been in Lagos since Saturday.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has picked Cape Verde official Fabricio Duarte as centre referee, to work with his compatriots Jorge Correia Semedo Helio (assistant 1), Delgado Fernandes Wilson Jorge (assistant 2) and Antonio Manuel Fortes Tony Rodrigues (fourth official).
The communications department of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had earlier revealed that CAF have approved only 7,200 fans to watch the match at Teslim Balogun Stadium, in response to the hosts’ request for some supporters to be allowed I, but the continental football governing body warned that COVID-19 protocol must be observed.
The latest figure is quite different from earlier reports that CAF had agreed to allow 10,000 fans storm the arena in Surulere, Lagos, but NFF media officer, Ademola Olajire hinted that the reduced number is due to stiff measures approved by the continental body, which also directed temperature check to be given all the fans and social distancing must be strictly enforced to.
Olajire enthused: “The Super Eagles will be returning to Lagos for the first time in 20 years and we felt it would be unfair to play in an empty stadium hence we applied to CAF to allow us to admit fans into the Teslim Balogun Stadium for our game against Lesotho.
“Fortunately for us, CAF obliged by allowing the admittance of 30 percent of the stadium’s total capacity to watch the game.
“The total seating capacity of the Teslim Balogun Stadium is 24,000 and its 30 percent will be 7,200. So, we expect about 7,200 fans to be at the stadium to cheer the Super Eagles to victory.”
