10-man Super Eagles knocked out of AFCON by Tunisia

 Nigeria’s Super Eagles got knocked out as they lost 1-0 to Tunisia in their Sunday encounter in the AFCON Round of 16.

Tunisia Carthage Eagles shocked the Super Eagles of Nigeria by scoring two minutes into the second half through a long-range shot from Youssef Msakni.

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.

Alex Iwobi was sent off for a bad tackle just about two minutes after he was brought into the game.

Super Eagles had faced a tough challenge in the first half of their encounter against Tunisia as the Tunisian attackers put pressure on Nigeria’s defenders.

Super Eagles skilful attackers Moses Simon and Kelechi Iheanacho failed to live up to their bearings as they barely got a chance on the pitch to score.

Kelechi Iheanacho  got a yellow card in the 20th minute.

Recall, the Super Eagles were the only side to get the maximum points in the group stage.

Nigeria started the campaign with a 1-0 win over record champions Egypt, followed by a 3-1 victory over Sudan, and concluded the groups with a 2-0 win against Guinea Bissau.

Super Eagles emerged champions in 1980, 1994, and 2013 and were in their hunt for a fourth AFCON title, but failed.

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 (Win 3, Draw 2, excluding shoot-outs).

However, Tunisia’s only successful AFCON meeting with Nigeria came in 2004, when they progressed through penalties in the semi-finals after the match finished level, going on to win the competition that year.