Cameroon legend Patrick Mboma was full of praises for Lesotho after Likuena frustrated Nigeria in the opening fixture of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium.
The result ended Nigeria’s four-match winning streak against Likuena, who took the lead through Motlomelo Mkhwanazi on the 56th minute.
Semi Ajayi’s late equaliser rescued a point for the Super Eagles as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Mboma, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon in 2000 and 2000 admitted that he was surprised with the performance of Lesotho on the day.
“I did not know that much about the Lesotho team, but I was really surprised by how they rose to the occasion against a star-studded Nigeria team,” Mboma said.
“I was really impressed because we all thought it was going to be a walk in the park for Nigeria but Lesotho stood tall in the field of play to get a point.”
His sentiments were echoed by Nigeria legend Siasia who was a star of the Super Eagles in the 1990s and coached several clubs in Nigeria after retiring.
The 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner said Lesotho came to the match with a good plan, which worked out for them on the day.
“I think Lesotho had a very good plan for the match and they perfected it in the field of play to frustrate Nigeria,” Siasia said.
“If they did not get it right, we would be talking a different story with Nigeria winning the match by a big score-line, but Lesotho came with a good plan for the match and it worked out for them,” he said.
Lesotho has been on the rise since the Lesotho Football Association made big changes to their technical team bringing in Leslie Notsi and Bob Mafoso as the head and assistant coaches respectively.
Their assignment began with the COSAFA Cup where Lesotho reached the final for the first time in 23 years, settling for silver after a narrow 1-0 loss to Zambia’s Chipolopolo.
They followed that with an impressive display against star studded Ivory Coast, who had to dig deep to clinch a 1-0 win at the newly opened Stade Laurent Pokou in San Pedro.
Lesotho will now face Benin in their second match of Group C at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday at 15h00. A win over Benin can take Likuena to the top of the group after Zimbabwe and Nigeria played-out to a one-all draw in their second match on Sunday.
Mikia Kalati