By Aiwu Esele
With a second half goal in the 47th minutes of the game through a volley by Nsakni, the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia clipped the wings of Nigeria Super Eagles in their knock-out tie of their ongoing Africa Cup of Nations encounter.
Even with a star studded team that faced a COVID-19 ravaged Tunisian team that struggled to qualify in league stages of the tournament, the Super Eagles that won all their three matches to top their group with the maximum nine points faced a tough challenge in the first half of their encounter even as they had better ball possession at 53 per cent against 47 for the Tunisians.
Except for the initial sparkle in opening controlled by Nigeria, the Tunisians took control in in the 21 minutes as the their attackers piled pressure on Nigeria’s defenders.
Moses Simon and Kelechi Iheanacho who were game in their previous matches simply failed to fly and by the time he was yellow carded in the 20th minutes of the game, Ihenacho became very careful. The in the 66th minutes substitute Alex Iwobi was red carded, further compounding the woes of the Super Eagles
Indeed, for a side that got the maximum points in the group stage, having defeated the Pharaohs of Egypt1-0, whipped Sudan 3-1 and sent Guinea Bissau packing with a 2-0 victory, the Super Eagles fall to kill joy Tunisia who lost 12 players to Corona Virus, was an anti -climax.
