‘Lack of grey matter on the bench’ - Popular journalist rips into Peseiro after Super Eagles’ Lesotho disgrace

Following the Super Eagles' dismal showing against Lesotho in their first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group stage, team manager Jose Peseiro has come under fire from well-wishers of the national team.

Nigeria had to come back from behind at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat against Lesotho, currently ranked 113 places below the Super Eagles in the latest FIFA rankings, leading to widespread condemnation of the team and its current manager.

One of those to condemn the Super Eagles’ manager, Jose Peseiro was PulseSports Nigeria Senior Editor, Solace Chukwu, who took to social media platform X to lambast the Portuguese gaffer for the team’s poor showing against lowly Lesotho.

He wrote, “Men and brethren, with a heavy heart, I proclaim to you that, on this evidence, @NGSuperEagles will not be "doing it again" come January [at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations]. More crippling than the lack of midfielders is a lack of active grey matter on the bench. Tragic.”

Nigeria is set to compete against the top brass of African Football in Ivory Coast in only a few months, but the general sentiment, especially after the failure against Lesotho is that the trip to Abidjan would be wasted given the current state of the national team.

Even the most optimistic fans of the Super Eagles remain sceptical about the team’s chances at the upcoming AFCON, while the more discerning supporters remain unsure whether Nigeria can as much as make it out of their group which also contains hosts Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea Bissau.

It is now left to Peseiro and his charges to prove the naysayers wrong with an impressive showing at the 2023 AFCON, but based on recent performances, it is difficult to see a scenario where they do this.