- Safiu Kehinde
The Super Eagles of Nigeria has maintained their perfect start of the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) as they advanced to the knockout stage with a narrow 3-2 victory against Tunisia.
Following their 1-0 win against Tanzania in the Group C opener earlier this week, the Nigerian national team face Tunisia on Saturday for match day two clash.
The Eric Chelle-led side established their dominance against the Carthage Eagles in what initially appeared as a one-sided encounter.
They dominated the field of play and came close to securing an early lead in the 17th minute coutersy Victor Osimhen’s goal.
This was however ruled offside with the Galatasaray striker expressing her frustration over the decision.
Osimhen would eventually score the opener in the 44th minute to put Nigeria into the lead before the half-time whistle.
The Super Eagles striker soared above Tunisia to head home a cross from former Africa’s best player of the year, Ademola Lookman
The second-half resumed with Nigeria maintaining its dominance while seeking to double the lead.
This came barely five minutes into the second-half resumption as another Lookman’s cross from a corner kick was headed past the Tunisian goalkeeper by the team’s captain, Wilfred Ndidi,
The goal which marked Ndidi’s first goal for the national team doubled the Super Eagles lead.
Lookman would seal an individual best performance after earning himself a place on the scoresheet with his 66th minute goal.
The Atalanta’s forward fired the ball into the back of the net with Osimhen providing the assist to increase Super Eagles’ tally.
Tunisia would eventually wake from their slumber as Montassar Talbi pulled one back for the Carthage Eagles in the 74th minute.
Talbi headed home a cross from Burnley midfielder, Hannibal Mejbri, with Stanley Nwabali’s awkward reaction seeing the bundled into the back of the net.
The goal marked Tunisia’s first shot on target as against Nigeria four.
The North African nation would derive strength from what was initially considered a consolation goal.
Their offensive play towards the end of the match forced Super Eagles’ defender, Bright-Osayi Samuel, to concede a penalty following a hand ball in the box 18.
The penalty was neatly converted by Abdi who sent Nwabali the wrong way to bring the game to 3-2.
Second half substitute, Chidera Ejuke, came close to retainig Super Eagles’ lead to 4-2 but was denied by Tunisia’s goalkeeper, Aymen Dahmen, who blocked his effort.
With Tunisia also failing to make the best use of their last minutes chance, Super Eagles stole all three points to top the table with six points from two games.
Nigeria would also secure a place in the knockout stage as they stand three points ahead of Tunisia and five ahead of Tanzania and Uganda who sat at the third and fourth spots respectively with one point each.
They had held each other to a 1-1 draw in the second match of the Group C.
The result further cemented the Super Eagles spot at the knockout stage.