2026 WCQ: Why Super Eagles Must Beat Lesotho With Wide Margin — Ekpo

Former Nigeria international Friday Ekpo has urged the Super Eagles to defeat Lesotho with a wide margin in Thursday’s Group C 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Uyo.

The Eagles will welcome Lesotho to the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium on matchday one of the qualifiers.

On Sunday, 19 November, they will travel to Rwanda to take on Zimbabwe on matchday two.

This will be the fifth meeting between the Eagles and Lesotho with the three-time AFCON winners winning the past four clashes.

The last time both teams met was during qualifiers for the 2021 AFCON which the Eagles won 3-0,

Looking ahead to Thursday’s clash, Ekpo explained why it is important the Eagles claim a big first-leg win.

“The Eagles must beat Lesotho by just 1-0, they should make sure they win by a wide margin,” the 1992 AFCON bronze medal winner told completesports.com.

“Why they need to win by a wide margin is because when they will host the Eagles in the return leg they will have it at the back of their mind that they lost heavily which will not make them have the confidence to play well.”

The 53-year-old, however, said the Eagles should not expect an easy game.

“The Eagles must not make the mistake of thinking they will have an easy game against Lesotho. Though the Eagles have been beating them in the past but who says they too cannot beat the Eagles?

“Even if the Eagles have beaten them 100 times, they too can also spring a surprise so they mustn’t underrate them even though they are favorite to win.”