Nigeria booked their place in the knockout stages of the Africa Cup of Nations with victory over Tunisia — but they made hard work of it.
Ademola Lookman created Nigeria’s first two goals for Victor Osimhen and Wilfred Ndidi and scored their third in the 67th minute. They were in complete control of the match in Fez on Saturday until Montassar Talbi’s header sparked a dramatic finish.
Tunisia were awarded a controversial late penalty, which Ali Al-Abdi converted on 87 minutes, and it looked like Nigeria were going to buckle under the pressure in stoppage time, but they managed to hold on for a 3-2 win. They will now top Group C, face one of the best third-placed sides in the round of 16 and, crucially, get an extra two days’ rest between the group and knockout phases.
Here, The Athletic breaks down the key talking points.
Nigeria’s new-look attack
Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle has made a tactical tweak for this tournament, which has significantly improved their chance creation from open play. Chelle has abandoned his favoured 4-3-3 formation and is using a diamond midfield. The biggest beneficiary of this change is Lookman, who has been moved from the left wing into the No 10 role behind Osimhen and Akor Adams.
Lookman spoke after the game about how he is now “closer to goal” and “can manipulate the ball in more dangerous areas.” The 28-year-old forward, who plays for Atalanta in Italy’s top flight, Serie A, pops up across the final third, dropping off defenders and midfielders into pockets of space, which makes it difficult for them to know who is responsible for marking him. Nigeria have scored five goals at this tournament, and Lookman has been directly involved in four of them.
Ademola Lookman was player of the match against Tunisia (Jay Harris/The Athletic)
Osimhen is the star attraction for Nigeria — he is only five goals behind their national-team record goalscorer Rashidi Yekini’s total of 37 — but there is something about this competition which brings out the best in team-mate Lookman. He has now scored four times in his eight AFCON appearances, including both goals in a 2-0 win against Cameroon in the round of 16 at the previous edition two years ago.
Adams deserves praise, too. He was fantastic in the first half yesterday and constantly made selfless runs into the channel to drag Tunisia players away from Osimhen. He created multiple chances for his strike partner too, including a curling cross that Osimhen should have buried but headed over.
Nigeria have a ridiculous amount of attacking talent and it has always been a challenge to find a healthy way to cram everybody into the team. Chelle might have found that formula.
More unwelcome VAR intervention
With one exquisite piece of skill in the centre circle, Hannibal Mejbri set off a chain of events which led to Tunisia being awarded a controversial late penalty.
Down 3-1, Hannibal wriggled between Nigeria’s midfield with a clever backheel flick and launched an attack that Hazem Mastouri should have scored from. Tunisia whipped the loose ball back into the box and Nigeria cleared the danger but nobody inside the stadium realised what was about to happen.
During a break in play, Hannibal, a former Manchester United midfielder now at Premier League neighbours Burnley, sensed something was going on and started revving up the crowd, who were mainly supporting Tunisia.
Boubou Traore, the referee from Mali, went over to the pitchside VAR monitor, but it was still unclear what the review was in relation to. Replays showed the ball had struck the arm of Nigeria full-back Bright Osayi-Samuel when he jumped for a header.
It was extremely harsh to award Tunisia a penalty, but also not surprising when you think of some of the other questionable decisions already at this tournament. It is only a week old but it already feels like there have been more poor moments of officiating than the entirety of AFCON 2023.
Ali Al-Abdi converted the spot kick in the 87th minute to make the score 3-2, Tunisia’s fans let off a flare and it felt like Nigeria were about to implode.
Ali Al-Abdi held his nerve to score his late penalty (Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP via Getty Images)
Tunisia should have scraped a point when Ferjani Sassi was unmarked in the box in stoppage time but his header, which goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali did not react to, bounced just past the post.
Nigeria central defender Calvin Bassey invoked an infamous phrase from leading manager Jose Mourinho when he was asked about the penalty after the game and jokingly said, “If I speak, I’m in trouble.”
Chelle added, “I don’t know the rules”, because “they told us if the ball touches the body before the hand, there is no hand(ball).”
Nigeria’s game management must be better
If the first 75 minutes of Nigeria’s play against Tunisia on Saturday demonstrated why they could win this tournament, the game’s closing stages highlighted why lots of people have doubts about their credentials.
Lazy marking by Adams from Hannibal’s free kick allowed Talbi to score and give Tunisia the glimmer of hope they latched onto. Chelle then decided to take off striker Adams and midfielder Frank Onyeka for Moses Simon and Chidera Ejuke. They are skilful players who can punish teams on the break, but it did not make sense to bring them both on when Nigeria needed to slow the game down.
Captain Ndidi at the base of midfield and centre-backs Bassey and Semi Ajayi did attempt to frustrate their opponents by holding onto possession, but somebody would become impatient and give the ball away. After Al-Albi’s penalty halved the two-goal deficit, Ejuke lost the ball in Tunisia’s half and Osimhen, who was only a couple of yards away, watched on and did not try to help.
In stoppage time, Bassey got carried away and started dribbling forward into Tunisian territory, which prompted Fulham team-mate Alex Iwobi to drop from midfield to cover him in the back line. Nwabali spilt a cross and had to be bailed out by his defence. Left-back Bruno Onyemaechi produced a superb tackle when it looked like Tunisia were about to create a chance down their right wing.
Nigeria head coach Eric Chelle has issues to address before the knockout phase (Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP via Getty Images)
Chelle smiled in the press conference afterwards and laughed when he said, “We improve every game, but we did some good things and bad things, too.”
The 48-year-old was right to point out Tunisia’s goals came from a set piece and a controversial penalty, and it should not detract from how dominant Nigeria were for the majority of the game. However, it is hard to shake off the feeling that this Nigeria side struggle to handle pressure and recover from setbacks, which was also shown in last month’s World Cup play-off final defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a match in which they had scored first.
What next for Nigeria?
Tuesday, December 30: Uganda, Africa Cup of Nations — Group C, 4pm UK, 11am ET
What next for Tunisia?
Tuesday, December 30: Tanzania, Africa Cup of Nations — Group C, 4pm UK, 11am ET