Africa Cup of Nations: Covid-hit Tunisia send Nigeria home in big upset

Nigeria were sent crashing out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the last 16 as a Covid-hit Tunisia side produced one of the shocks of the tournament to seal a famous 1-0 win in Garoua to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Super Eagles came into the game as one of the favourites, having won all three of their group games, but struggled to impose themselves on the Eagles of Carthage in a cagey first-half that lacked any goalmouth action.

However, Tunisia struck first and took the lead moments into the second half. Youssef Msakni’s 30-yard effort snuck into the net, as Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Okoye fumbled the shot and could not keep it out.

Things went from bad to worse for the Super Eagles as second half substitute Alex Iwobi was shown a straight red card for serious foul play following a VAR check after a dangerous challenge on Msakni’s ankle.

The Tunisians held on to secure a priceless victory, and only their second win of the tournament.

The 2021 edition of the African Cup of Nations has seen many shocks, and another has been added to that list as Nigeria follow Algeria and Ghana out of the tournament, and they are going home with a whimper.

The talk pre-match was of the amount of disruption caused by a Covid-19 outbreak in the Tunisia camp, which may have caused some complacency in the Nigeria dressing room. Regardless, the Super Eagles did not turn up tonight, and struggled to deal with Tunisia's compact shape off the ball.

Considering they were one of the tournament favourites, and had an excellent run of results in the group stage, there no doubt will be discussions behind the scenes amongst those at the Nigeria Football Federation to find out what went wrong.

The 31-year-old proved to be the match winner for Tunisia in what was an accomplished performance. The forward scored with his only shot of the game, and there was a touch of luck involved, but Msakni will not care.

Picking the ball up on the half-turn, he fired in a low effort from 30-yards out, which Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Okoye fumbled before having to pick the ball out of his net.

Msakni also made three successful dribbles and provided one key pass, and saved his best performance of the tournament for the vital moment.

Nigeria: Okoye 5, Aina 7, Ekong 6, Omeruo 6, Sanusi 6, Ndidi 7, Aribo 6, Simon 6, Iheanacho 5, Chukwueze 6, Awoniyi 6. Subs: Sadiq 6, Olayinka 6, Iwobi 5, Musa 6.

Tunisia: Said 7, Drager 7, Ifa 7, Talbi 7, Haddadi 7, Laidouni 7, Skhiri 7, Ben Slimane 6, Msakni 8, Jaziri 6, Rafia 6. Subs: Rekik 6, Jebali 6, Sliti 6, Khazri 6.

46’ - GOAL! Nigeria 0-1 Tunisia (Youssef Msakni): The forward does really well to run with the ball and cut inside from around 30-yards out, before hitting one from distance with his right foot right at Okoye in the Nigeria goal. The Nigeria goalkeeper fumbles despite getting a touch, and the ball is in the back of the net!

65’ - RED CARD! Alex Iwobi is sent off! Minutes after coming on! His yellow card is swapped for a red. His challenge on Msakni is checked by VAR, with the referee going to the monitor to have a look. The replays show the challenge is worse than first feared - a potential ankle snapper. He changes his decision, and sends Iwobi off! Nigeria are down to ten!

90+1’ - WHAT A CHANCE! - Olayinka feeds in Sadiq, who is in acres of space in the area and has the goal right in front of him, but he shanks his effort wide!