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 until Montassar Talbi’s header sparked a dramatic finish.
Tunisia were awarded a late controversial penalty which Ali Al-Abdi converted 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 top their group, face one of the best third-placed sides in the round of 16 and crucially get an extra two days rest.
Here, The Athletic breaks down the key talking points.
Nigeria’s new look attack
Nigeria’s 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 Akor Adams and Osimhen.
Lookman spoke after the game about how he is “closer to goal” and “can manipulate the ball in more dangerous areas.” The 28-year-old Atalanta forward 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 man of the match against his Tunisia (Jay Harris/The Athletic)
Osimhen is the star attraction for Nigeria, he is only five goals behind all-time top goalscorer Rashid Yekini, but there is something about this competition which brings out the best in his team-mate. Lookman has scored four times in eight AFCON appearances, including scoring both goals in a 2-0 victory over Cameroon in the round of 16 at the last edition.
Adams deserves praise too. He was fantastic in the first-half and constantly made selfless runs into the channel to drag defenders away from Osimhen. He created multiple chances for his strike partner, including a curling cross Osimhen should have buried instead of heading over.
Nigeria have a ridiculous amount of attacking talent and it has always been a challenge to find a healthy way to cram everybody in. Chelle might have found the 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 penalty.
Hannibal wriggled between Nigeria’s midfield with a clever backheel flick and launched an attack Hazem Mastouri should have scored from. Tunisia whipped the 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, the Burnley midfielder, sensed something was going on and started whipping up the crowd who were mainly supporting Tunisia.
Boubou Traore, the referee from Mali, went over to the VAR monitor but it was still unclear what for. Replays showed the ball struck the arm of Nigeria’s full-back Bright Osayi-Samuel when he jumped for a header.
It was extremely harsh to award Tunisia a penalty but not surprising when you think of some of the other questionable decisions at this tournament. It is only a week old but it already feels like there have been more poor moments of officiating in Morocco than the entirety of AFCON 2023.
Ali Al-Abdi converted the spotkick in the 87th minute, 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 Nigeria’s goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali did not react to, bounced just past the post.
Central defender Calvin Bassey invoked an infamous phrase from 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 needs to improve
If the first 75 minutes of Nigeria demonstrated why they could win this tournament, the 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 on to. Chelle then decided to take off Adams and 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, Semi Ajayi and Bassey 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 made it 3-2, 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 Tunisia’s half, which prompted Fulham team-mate Iwobi to drop to cover him.
Nwabali spilled a cross and had to be bailed out by his defenders. Bruno Onyemaechi produced a superb tackle when it looked like Tunisia were about to create a chance down the right wing.
Eric Chelle has issues to address (Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP via Getty Images)
Chelle smiled in the press conference 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 scored from a set-piece and a controversial penalty and it should not detract from how dominant they 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 shown in last month’s World Cup play-off final defeat to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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