eld does not find namespec libraries (such as -lfoo) in the standard directories under the sysroot such as, /lib, /lib64, /usr/lib, and so on.
Reproducer:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
rm -rf A
mkdir -p A/lib64
cat >1.c <<\EOF
int foo() { return 1; }
EOF
cat >script.t <<EOF
GROUP(-l1)
EOF
cat >main.c <<\EOF
int main() { return 0; }
EOF
clang -o lib1.so -target x86_64-unknown-elf 1.c -shared -fPIC
clang -o main.o -target x86_64-unknown-elf main.c -c
mv lib1.so A/lib64/lib1.so
mv script.t A/script.t
ld.eld --sysroot=A A/script.t main.o
ld.bfd --sysroot=A A/script.t main.o
bfd is able to locate the lib1.so in A/lib64/lib1.so but eld fails to do so.