Lesotho’s national team, The Crocodiles landed in Lagos midway through Monday, ahead of their clash with the Super Eagles in the final game of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers at Teslim Balogun Stadium, where they vowed to silence the euphoric Nigerian squad, megasportsarena.com reports.
While the Eagles are in buoyant mood after winning 1-0 away to Benin Republic, few hours after The Crocodiles settled for a goalless draw at home with Sierra Leone at Setsoto Stadium in Maseru, the visitors breezed into Lagos on a high, s they aimed to ruffle some feathers of their hosts.
The unanimous declaration among the lads from Lesotho is that they are heading for pay-back against the Eagles, who beat them 4-2 during the first leg in Maseru and they are determined to end their fruitless run in the AFCON 2022 qualifiers with an impressive display against their excited hosts.
Only pride will be at stake since Gernot Rohr’s Eagles have already booked a ticket to Cameroon 2022 and The Crocodiles cannot make it there even if they win on Tuesday, yet Thabo Senong’s side, who sit at the base of the table with just three points, echoed one charge – they will go for their first win after five matches.
In the reverse fixture played in Maseru, the 2013 African champions and three-time winners got a brace through SSC Napoli of Italy striker, Victor Osimhen plus one each by Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze and Everton of England star, Alex Iwobi, while Lesotho’s double came through Masoabi Nkoto’s 11th minute strike and Chidozie Awaziem’s own goal.
However, heading into Tuesday’s reverse fixture, former Eagles’ defender, Nduka Ugbade has warned the Nigerian players not to be complacent against the team ranked 143rd in the world, who he noted would be all out to play spoilers, while victory for the hosts would boost their surge up the FIFA monthly rankings.
Ugbade told a Lagos-based radio station: “Because this will place Nigeria high on the FIFA rankings, they should not joke with Lesotho and be complacent, we should look at what happened against Sierra Leone.
“Against Lesotho, the best team should be arranged, other players should be given the opportunity to play and we should beat Lesotho very well to send messages to others.
“There are no longer minors in football, so Lesotho shouldn’t be counted as an underdog. As a team, all they need to do is complete their record by beating them.”
