2026 WCQ: Super Eagles will cope without Osimhen, Chukwueze

<p>Super Eagles head coach, Jose Peseiro, has expressed his lack of concern over the absence of some key players for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.</p>, <p>Talismanic forward, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, and Zaidu Sanusi were excluded from the squad for the qualifiers due to fitness concerns.</p>, <p>Osimhen and Chukwueze sustained hamstring injuries in Nigeria’s friendly against Saudi Arabia last month.</p>, <p>Sanusi recently returned to action for the Portuguese club, FC Porto, after spending around six weeks on the sidelines.</p>, <p>Peseiro stated that he has enough quality at his disposal to cope with the trio’s absence.</p>, <p>“No Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, Zaidu, and others are not fit, but I am only speaking about them because you asked me. It’s better I think about the 23 players, come with more confidence; I don’t care about the others, only I said recover well, for that I call them,” Peseiro told a press conference in Uyo.</p>, <p>“All of them I call all the time, not only Osimhen. I call them, you work well, good job, but after that when we start the camping, our team is this team, no other team.”</p>, <p>The Super Eagles will host the Likuena of Lesotho at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, on Thursday.</p>