2026 WCQ: Peseiro blames fatigue from long-hours flight for Eagles 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe

Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has attributed his team’s performance against the Warriors of Zimbabwe on Sunday to long hours of traveling, before the encounter.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s 67th minute strike secured Nigeria a 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe, after Walter Musona had scored for the host in the 26th minute in their second Group C game of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier played at the Huwe Stadium, Butare in Rwanda.

This follows another disappointing 1-1 draw against the Crocodiles of Lesotho a few days ago in Uyo that now leaves the Super Eagles chances of topping the group hanging in the balance.

Speaking during the post-match press conference, Peseiro said his team’s dip in performance was due to the long hours traveling.

“It was a tough trip from Nigeria to this place. The flight, the bus, many hours. It’s a lot of work, and the players didn’t have enough rest, coupled with injuries, but that’s not an excuse. We had more energy and could have won that match.”

“First half, very bad, second half, much better.” Peseiro said.

Meanwhile, Super Eagles midfielder Alex Iwobi, has refused to accept fatigue as the reason for the disappointing result. The former Arsenal player believes the quality of the Super Eagles squad should have been enough to win the game.

“Travel is not an excuse, we’re professional enough and we have a lot of quality in the side. The first half wasn’t good enough, but the second half was better, so we have to look at that and analyse the game and see what went wrong and what we can do to improve. I’ll just ask the Nigerian fans to stick by us,” Iwobi noted.

“We’re disappointed. With the players we have, Nigeria is a country with a lot of quality players, we should have been able to get more points and goals. We won’t dwell on this, we’ll keep fighting till the very end to make sure we qualify,” The former Everton player added.

The next time the Super Eagles will be in action will be at the 2024 AFCON tournament in Cote d’Ivoire.

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