Battle of the Eagles as Nigeria, Tunisia Gun for Q’final Ticket
AsNig er ia’ s Super Eagles battle Carthage Eagles of Tunisia for a place in the quarter finals of the ongoing 33rd Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon this evening, the memory that will come flooding is what happened in a World Cup qualifier on November 12, 1977.
That day, Godwin Odiye scored an own goal at the National Stadium in Lagos that sent the Green Eagles packing from the 1978 World Cup hosted by Argentina.
Although between then and now, Super Eagles have earned series of victories against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, that memory has simply refused togo away.
Fast forward to the last edition of the AFCON that held in 2019 in Egypt, it was on the back of Tunisia that Super Eagles climbed to pick the third placed bronze under now sacked German Gernot Rohr.
But in the new era under Aug us tineEguavoen, Su per Eagles have regained their mojo. Suddenly, the world has started to see semblance of the familiar Nigerian pattern again. In the three matches played by Nigeria in Cameroon, Super Eagles have not only recorded 100 per cent success, we are now touted as favorites for the trophy.
WillTunisia that struggled to sneak into this stage of the competition after finishing as one of the third best teams stop Nigeria’s good run? It is doubtful.
From available records, Eguavoen appears to have the secret to unmaking Tunisia. It is not impossible for him to repeat his 2006 feat against the Carthage Eagles in Garoua, Cameroon.
Eguavoenw as head coach of the Super Eagles when Nigeria upended the Carthage Eagle son penalty shoot out in Port Said in Egypt 16 years ago to send the Cup holders out of the tournament at the quarter final stage.
“That was a huge, huge game and a memorable one for me. The match ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time
and we had to go into penalties.We lost two of our first three kicks or something like that and then bounced back when our goal keeper( Vincent En yea ma) stopped two of their kicks. It was a sweet vi ct ory,” Eguavo en said.
At the Al Mas ry Stadium on 4 th February 2006, O bin na N so for scored for Nigeria before Karim H ag gui level led for the Cup holders. In the shoot out, Joseph Yo bo and Yusuf
Ayila missed as Chedli and Ben Achour did for Tunisia. TayeTaiwo, Nsofor and Obafemi Martins scored, as did Namouchi, Guemamdia and Jose Clayton for Tunisia.
In sudden death, John Mikel Obi and goalkeeper Enyeama scored for Nigeria as did goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel and Hadj Massaoud for Tunisia, but after Nwankwo Kanu scored for Nigeria, Riadh Bouazizi saw his kick saved by Enyeama.
It is doubtful if Nigeria’s current “red hot” Eagles will allow the game to drag into shootouts. Not after the scintillating performance against Egypt and Sudan. Even the second string team without eight of the stars that demolished the Pharaohs in the starting XI didn’t fare badly against Guinea Bissau .