Nigeria Book Africa Cup of Nations Last 16 Spot In Spite of Late Carthage Eagles Fightback
Ex- African Footballer of the Year the Napoli star helped Nigeria establish a 3-0 advantage, but the Super Eagles were forced to defend resolutely for a hard-fought win.
The three-time champions weathered a dramatic comeback attempt from their opponents to advance to the knockout stage of the Afcon tournament taking place in the host nation.
The Super Eagles seemed to be cruising in their Group C encounter in Fes, holding a three-goal lead with only a quarter of an hour left thanks to strikes from Victor Osimhen, Wilfred Ndidi and Ademola Lookman.
Yet, a Tunisian defender pulled one back with a close-range finish from a Hannibal Mejbri free-kick, igniting hopes of a recovery.
The drama intensified when Tunisia were awarded a late penalty after a VAR check spotted a handball by Bright Osayi-Samuel. The left-back converted in the 87th minute to set up a nail-biting finale.
Tunisia came agonizingly close from a stunning leveler in added time, with their skipper heading a chance narrowly wide before Ismael Gharbi guided a bobbling volley wide of the upright.
Securing First Place
The victory ensures that Nigeria, winners of the competition on three past instances, move to six group points and are guaranteed top spot in their pool with one game left to play.
In the next round, they will meet a third-placed side from either the other preliminary groups.
Meanwhile, the 2004 champions remain on 3 group points, with the East African teams locked on one point after playing out a one-all stalemate earlier on Saturday.
The concluding group fixtures will see Nigeria remain in the city to play Uganda on Tuesday, while Tunisia return to the capital to face Tanzania.
A Nervy Conclusion
The Tunisian defender drilled home from the penalty spot to give his team a glimmer of hope of snatching a point.
Nigeria, runners-up in the 2023 tournament, become the next team after Egypt to qualify for the knockout stage, but coach Eric Chelle and fans will undoubtedly be breathing a sigh of relief.
What seemed set to be a comfortable final quarter transformed into a tense conclusion.
Victor Osimhen had a effort disallowed for offside before opening the scoring right before the interval, precisely placing a header into the far post from an Ademola Lookman delivery.
The lead was doubled soon in the second period when the Leicester City midfielder climbed above everyone to thump in a header from a Lookman corner.
Osimhen then set up Lookman for the third goal, before Montassar Talbi to direct a header past goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali to initiate the comeback.
The pivotal incident came when a high ball struck the arm of Bright Osayi-Samuel, with the official pointing to the spot after reviewing the VAR monitor.
Despite the defender's confident conversion, the 2004 champions ultimately fell short of pulling off a remarkable comeback.
Their fate is still in their control; a point against Tunisia will be enough to see them through, and their coach will be eager to avoid a recurrence of the past early elimination that resulted in his departure.
