Nigeria’s Super Eagles has been handed a tough opponent in the AFCON 2021 Round of 16 as they square up against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia.
Tunisia finished third in Group E after a last-minute loss to The Gambia to pit the North African side against Nigeria.
While the Eagles enjoyed a perfect run into the knockout phase with three wins in three games, the North Africans barely scraped through as they finished third. In all, Tunisia had only three points from three games.
The 2004 African champions finished third in their group on three points, having begun their bid for a second title with a 1-0 defeat to the Eagles of Mali a week ago followed by a 4-0 hammering of Mauritania on Sunday before Thursday’s loss to the Scorpions of Gambia.
Tunisia are no strangers to Nigeria at the AFCON as they have met on a number of occasions with the most recent being at the 2019 edition in Egypt. Then handled by the erstwhile manager, Gernot Rohr, the Super Eagles prevailed 1-0 in the losers final as they picked the bronze medal ahead of the North Africans.
Odion Ighalo who scored the all-important goal in that tie is absent in the present Super Eagles team gunning for a fourth AFCON title in Cameroon.
