In the early morning of January 24, Beijing time, the African Cup of Nations Round of 16 matches began, one of the focus matches, Nigeria and Tunisia began to compete. As a result, Nigeria, which won all three games in the group stage, suddenly collapsed, losing 0-1 to Tunisia, and thus eliminating from this African Cup of Nations.
Nigeria, with a number of top five league players, performed well in the Africa Cup of Nations, winning all three games in the group stage, and was the only team to finish with a 9. In the group stage, Nigeria beat the Egyptian team with Salah, making the African Eagles a major favorite to win this year's Africa Cup of Nations.
Tunisia, on the other hand, although their world ranking is stronger than Nigeria's, did not perform well in the group stage. Tunisia, which is in the same group as Mali and the Gambia, performed poorly in the group stage, with only 1 win and 2 losses, and barely qualified with 3 points. In the round of 16, Tunisia had the fewest points among the qualifying teams, and they ran into Nigeria, the only one to score 9 points.
In the first half of the match, the dominant Nigeria did not score, and Tunisia resisted the fierce attack of the opponent. Just after returning from the second half, Tunisia suddenly used a cold arrow, relying on Msakni's long-range shot to successfully score. Seeing the score behind, Nigeria immediately made an adjustment, replacing the underperforming Ichinacho with Iwobi, which had the opposite effect.
In the 65th minute, Iwobi was sent off for a red card for a stampede foul and Nigeria, who played one less man, was in a more serious predicament. In the end, the African Eagles did not equalize the score for the rest of the time, losing the game 0-1, thus bidding farewell to this year's Africa Cup of Nations. The example of Nigeria proves once again that, as in many previous competitions, teams that perform well in the group stage do not mean that they are dominant in the knockout rounds, which can be regarded as a big curse in the cup.
Nigeria, which has won all three games before, can be said to have used its luck in the group stage, which is not an effective cup strategy. Tunisia, on the other hand, although they only won 1 victory in the group stage, they successfully advanced in the early hours of this morning, participating in the last 6 times, and they reached the top 8 five times, and their results were very stable. In the next round, they will play against Burkina Faso, a dark horse of this Year's Africa Cup of Nations, and Tunisia is obviously the favored side.
For Nigeria, the loss of the early morning match was indeed a big blow. According to statistics, this is the first time since 2008 that Nigeria has lost out of the first round of the African Cup of Nations knockout round, and the African Eagles have suffered a humiliating result in 14 years. The four Nigerian Premier League stars who returned to the African Cup of Nations this time, Ichinacho, Iwobi, Ndidi and Trost Econ, also returned home early.