Nigeria’s Super Eagles have been knocked out of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The Eagles lost 1-0 to the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in the second round match on Sunday.
Barely two minutes after he was brought into the game, Alex Iwobi was sent off for a bad tackle.
This is after Tunisia shocked the Super Eagles of Nigeria by scoring two minutes into the second half.
A shot from Youssef Msakni gave the Carthage Eagles their first goal in the game.
The goal came after Msakni’s shot from outside the 18-yard box was poorly parried into the net by Nigeria’s goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye.
Super Eagles had faced a tough challenge in the first half of their encounter against Tunisia at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations.
A cagey opening controlled by Nigeria became tough in the 21 minutes as the Tunisian attackers put pressure on Nigeria’s defenders.
Skilful attackers Moses Simon and Kelechi Iheanacho failed to sparkle as they barely got a chance on the pitch this evening in the tough game.
Struck by many absences, including 12 players testing positive for COVID-19, Tunisia proved tougher for the Super Eagles than expected.
While Tunisia have two goals on target, Nigeria had none in the first half.
Nigeria started the campaign with a 1-0 win over record champions Egypt, followed by a 3-1 victory over Sudan, and concluded the group with a 2-0 win against Guinea Bissau.
Champions in 1980, 1994, and 2013, the group stage maximum tally and entertaining performances are expected to give the Super Eagles the needed morale boost in their hunt for a fourth AFCON title.
Nigeria and Tunisia are meeting for the sixth time at the Africa Cup of Nations, with four of the previous five matches being played in knock-out games. Nigeria are unbeaten in all five (W3 D2, excluding shoot-outs).
Tunisia’s only successful AFCON meeting with Nigeria came in 2004, when they progressed via penalties in the semi-finals after the match finished level, going on to win the competition that year.