{"id":20362,"date":"2025-10-11T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=20362"},"modified":"2025-10-11T09:57:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T08:57:44","slug":"super-eagles-revive-world-cup-hopes-with-2-1-win-over-lesotho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/11\/super-eagles-revive-world-cup-hopes-with-2-1-win-over-lesotho\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Super Eagles Revive World Cup Hopes With 2-1 Win Over Lesotho"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Super Eagles of Nigeria reignited their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification hopes on Friday with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Lesotho in a crucial Group C encounter. The result keeps Nigeria within striking distance of group leaders Benin Republic, setting up a tense final round of qualifiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a goalless first half, Nigeria broke the deadlock in the 55th minute when captain William Troost-Ekong calmly slotted home a penalty following a handball in the Lesotho box. The breakthrough sent the home crowd into raptures and gave the Eagles the momentum they needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striker Akor Adams extended Nigeria\u2019s lead in the 80th minute with a composed finish, seemingly sealing the win. However, Lesotho responded swiftly, with Hlompho Kalake pulling one back just three minutes later to set up a nervy finish. Despite the late pressure, Nigeria held on to secure all three points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The win lifts Nigeria to 14 points, but they remain behind Benin Republic, who lead Group C with 17 points after their own victory. With only one match left in the group stage, the Super Eagles\u2019 qualification hopes are still alive\u2014but not entirely in their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To secure automatic qualification, Nigeria must defeat Benin Republic in their final group match. A win would bring them level on points, but goal difference could become the deciding factor. Currently, Nigeria trails both Benin and South Africa in that metric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another possible route involves hoping for a slip-up from either Benin or South Africa in their respective final fixtures. Any dropped points by their rivals could open the door for Nigeria to leapfrog into the top spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving goal difference is also a critical factor. A dominant win over Benin, coupled with a clean sheet, could prove decisive if teams finish level on points. The Super Eagles will need to be clinical in attack and resolute in defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Lesotho, the loss is a significant setback. With just nine points from five matches, their chances of qualifying are now slim, requiring an unlikely combination of results to stay in contention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All eyes now turn to the final matchday, where Nigeria\u2019s clash with Benin Republic could determine the group\u2019s World Cup representative. The stakes couldn\u2019t be higher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Super Eagles of Nigeria reignited their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification hopes on Friday with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Lesotho in a crucial Group C encounter. The result keeps Nigeria within striking distance of group leaders Benin Republic, setting up a tense final round of qualifiers. After a goalless first half, Nigeria broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Super-Eagles-Players.jpg?fit=1400%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20365,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20362\/revisions\/20365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}