Nigeria’s Super Eagles again were held to a 1-1 draw by Zimbabwe in the 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifying series Day 2 at the Huye Stadium in Rwanda.
Walter Musona struck a long-range free kick in the 26 minutes of play which beat Nigeria’s goalkeeper Francis Uzoho to hand the Warriors an early lead.
Leicester City winger Kelechi Iheanacho who came on for Nathan Tella fires a shot just inside the left post to equalise for the Super Eagles in the 67 minute.
Recall that the Three-time African Champions also played a 1-1 draw against Lesotho in Uyo on November 16 and needed to get three points against the Warriors of Zimbabwe to boost their chances of playing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup that the United States of America, Mexico and Canada will jointly host.
Read also: Zimbabwe vs Nigeria: Super Eagles on redemption mission
The result means Nigeria are second in Group C with two points from two matches and mounts pressure on Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro as the Portuguese tactician has been blamed for his team’s poor performance and fans have called for this sack.
Sunday’s game is the second round of matches by both sides as South Africa battles Rwanda and Lesotho host Benin Republic on Tuesday. Bafana Bafana top Group C with three points following a 2-1 victory over Benin Republic on Saturday.
Peseiro made three changes at the start of the second half, Victor Boniface replaced Frank Onyeka to add firepower to Nigeria’s attack, Bright Osayi-Samuel came on for Ola Aina in the defence and Iheanacho for Tella.
The changes yielded results as Nigeria mounted pressure on the home side and the breakthrough arrived in the 67 minute.
Nigeria was close to getting the second goal in the 74 minutes when Moses Simon connected with Iheanacho, but his header went wild.
Nigeria made its fourth substitution in the 77 minutes when Terem Moffi came off for Umar Sadiq as Nigeria continued to seek the second goal but Zimbabwe were very resistant.
The Super Eagles made their Last substitution as Jamilu Collins replaced Onyemaechi Bruno in the 85th minute and got a yellow card two minutes later.
Even after six minutes of added time, Nigeria could not get the second goal as the Warriors of Zimbabwe.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
