AFCON
AMAZING FACTS: 24 take-aways ahead of Nigeria-Tunisia AFCON Round 16 match
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria and Tunisia meet in the second match of the Africa Cup of Nations’ Round of 16 this Sunday night in Garoua.
As usual, www.sportsvillagesquare.com takes an insightful look at the match-up and comes out with the following points of interest.
- Both teams are among the seeded five teams among the 10 jostling for World Cup 2022 qualification.
- Both teams have staged walkout in previous encounters. Nigerian players walked out in their Africa Cup qualifiers against Tunisia on 10 December 1961 in Tunis, CAF awarded the match to Tunisia. Tunisia staged a walkout in the third place match of Afcon 1978 when Baba Otu Mohammed scored a goal that leveled scores at 1-1. CAF Awarded the match to Nigeria.
- Apart from the 7-0 defeat of Nigeria by Ghana (then Gold Coast) in 1955, the biggest defeat suffered by Nigeria was inflicted by Tunisia – 5-0 in a 29 September friendly match in Tunis.
- This match is Nigeria’s 97th in Africa Cup of Nations’ history.
- This match is Tunisia’s 79th in Africa Cup history.
- The two teams are meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations’ tournament for the sixth time having met in 1978 in Kumasi, 2000 in Lagos, 2004 in Rades, 2006 in Port Said, and 2019 in Cairo.
- In their previous five confrontations in the Africa Cup of Nations, all results have been in Nigeria’s favour except the penalty shoot-out loss in the semi final of the 2004 edition held in Tunisia.
- Tunisia denied Nigeria qualification in Nigeria’s maiden entry for the Africa Cup of Nations in 1962.
- Tunisia is the first country Nigeria had altercation with in competitive match as the team foolishly walked out of the return leg of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Tunis on 10 December 1961 after Tunisia drew level at 2-2 with 25 minutes to go. Nigeria had won 2-1 in the first leg match in Lagos and were thus leading 4-3 on aggregate before the walk-out. Nigeria were protesting bias officiating by Egyptian referee Mohammed Hassan Helim.
- It was in an Africa Cup of Nations duel with Tunisia that Nigeria recorded their milestone goal of 100 in the competition in 2006, courtesy of the sixth minute goal by Obinna Nsorfor.
- Nwankwo Kanu is a legend in African football and played in 27 matches in six editions without putting the ball in the net. The only goal that could be attributed to him was from the penalty shoot-out with Tunisia in 2006 when he was Nigeria’s reluctant eighth and final penalty taker.
- It was in Tunisia that Nigeria’s Jay Jay Okocha scored the 1,000th goal of the Africa Cup of Nations.
- The infamous own-goal scored by Godwin Odiye was in a World Cup qualifying match which Tunisia won in Lagos on 12 November 1977.
- Nigeria’ s national team’s first penalty shoot-out incident was in a World Cup qualification encounter with Tunisia. That was on 26 June 1980 after an aggregate score line of 2-2. Nigeria won the tie-breaker 4-3.
- The referee who officiated Nigeria’s loss to Cameroon in ensuing penalty shoot-out with Cameroon is a Tunisian, Mourad Daami
- Nigeria have been involved in penalty shoot-out in the Africa Cup of Nations on seven occasions. Two of the instances were in games with Tunisia. The honours were even shared as Tunisia had the edge in the semi-finals of 2004 edition on home soil, Nigeria won in the penalty shoot-out at the 2006 quarter-finals.
- Tunisia on the other hand had been involved in AFCON penalty shoot-out on six occasions and won on four instances against Gabon in 1996, Burkina Faso in 1998, Nigeria in 2004 and Ghana in 2019. They lost twice in 2000 to South Africa in losers’ final and to Nigeria in the quarter-finals of 2006.
- When Kadiri Ikhana missed his kick in Nigeria’s penalty shootout with Tunisia on 12 July 1980, he became the first national team players to do so.
- Of the eleven penalty shootout situations involving the Super Eagles of Nigeria, three of them had been in duels with Tunisia in 1980, 2004 and 2006. It was only in the11 February 2004 situation in Rades, Tunisia that won 6-3 after 1-1 scoreline.
- Nigeria’s World Cup qualifying match against Tunisia on 12 November 1977 was the last international engagements for the duo of Nigeria rear guards, Patrick Ekeji and Samuel Ojebode.
- Until the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Nigeria missed all editions of World Cup in which Tunisia fell in the country’s fixtures. First Tunisia eliminated Nigeria from Argentina’ 78 qualifiers. Even after eliminating Tunisia, Nigeria still missed qualifying for Spain ’82. Tunisia eliminated Nigeria from Mexico ’86 qualifiers.
- Apart from the 7-0 defeat on Nigeria by Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1955, the next heaviest defeat on Nigeria was by Tunisia; a 5-0 defeat in a 29 September 1984 friendly match.
- Former Nigeria coach, Chris Udemezue had his baptism of fire as Nigeria’s coach when his team was walloped 5-0 by Tunisia in a friendly match in 1984. At the time, Adegboye Onigbinde who led Nigeria to the final of 1984 Africa Cup of Nations had been cleverly eased out to assist Shooting Stars in prosecuting club continental assignment.
- Figure six is prominent in Nigeria’s upstaging of Tunisia to grab the 2010 FIFA World Cup ticket. First to be noted is the fact that the Nigerian player that scored an own goal that put an end to Nigeria’s Argentina 1978 World Cup qualification was Godwin Odiye, who wore shirt number six. Sports Village Square notes that six was the number of African teams at South Africa 2010. Six was the number of teams that Nigeria played to qualify. Six was number of matches Nigeria played in the final lap. Six was the number of matches Nigeria had had with Tunisia before the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Six was the minute that Tunisia scored against Kenya in Nairobi to take the lead in Group B ahead of Nigeria, Mozambique and Kenya. Sixth was the last game Tunisia played to relinquish the group leadership to Nigeria. Six was the number of minutes remaining in Tunisia’s ill-fated match with Mozambique in Maputo before the North Africans conceded the goal that earned Nigeria the World Cup ticket.
NIGERIA vs. TUNISIA: HEAD-TO-HEAD
P W D L F A
Tunisia 18 5 7 6 23 18
Nigeria 18 4 7 5 18 23
- 25 Nov.1961 (Afconq) Nigeria 2-1 Tunisia
- 10 Dec. 1961 (Afconq) Tunisia 2-2 Nigeria *inconclusive (Nigeria walked out).
- 25 Sept. 1977 (WCq) Tunisia 0-0 Nigeria
- 12 Nov. 1977 (WCq) Nigeria 0-1 Tunisia
- 16 Mar. 1978 (Afcon) Tunisia 0-2 Nigeria (w/o) (actual scores 1-1 before Tunisians walked out)*.
- 26 June. 1980 (WCq) Tunisia 2-0 Nigeria
- 12 Jul. 1980 (WCq) Nigeria 2-0 Tunisia * (2-2 on aggregate: Nigeria won penalty shoot-out 4-3).
- 29 Sept. 1984 (F) Tunisia 5-0 Nigeria
- 6 Jul. 1985 (WCq) Nigeria 1-0 Tunisia
- 20 Jul. 1985 (WCq) Tunisia 2-0 Nigeria
- 22 Feb. 1992 (SCSA) Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria
- 9 Aug.1997 (LG Cup) Tunisia 2-0 Nigeria
- 23. Jan.2000 (Afcon) Nigeria 4-2 Tunisia
- 11. Feb.2004 (Afcon) Nigeria 1 -1Tunisia *Tunisia won 6-3 in penalty shoot out
- 4. Feb 2006 Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria (6-5pen)
- 20 June 2009 (WCq) Tunisia 0-0 Nigeria
- 6 Sept. 2009 (WCq) Nigeria 2-2 Tunisia
- 17 July 2019 (Afcon) Nigeria 1-0 Tunisia
- 13 Oct. 2020 (F) Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
With CAF referring the case of the botched Libya-Nigeria match to its
Disciplinary Board, a nine-man panel has the task of deciding which party was at fault.
Possible decision could be forfeiture of the match by the offending party or rescheduling of the fixture. The latter seems unlikely considering the already congested international calendar.
Even if that were to be the decision, the match would likely be taken to a neutral ground.
On the other hand, the board may also take it that it was Nigeria that refused to play the match after having hosted the first leg.
In that case, Article 62 of the competition’s regulations will be enforced. It reads: “Any team that withdraws or refuses to play the return match after having played the first leg on its territory must refund the association of the visiting team a minimum sum of fifteen thousand (15,000) U.S. dollars in reparation for the damage suffered by the host country.”
If the NFF is adjudged as the culprit, the body will be fined $15,000. Chapter 19 of the regulations gives a window to appeal the fine. But judging from the CAF statement of the situation, and the condemnation of the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles, the fine is very unlikely as the weight of evidence tilts against the Libyans who in the x-handle admitted keeping the Super Eagles in captivity with an explanation that episode was largely due to an airport protocol mishap.
A decision lies firstly on the nine-man panel. With the possibility of the losing side not satisfied, another nine-man panel, the Appeals Board will take a possible final decision which can only be contested at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS)
Here are the decision-makers:
Disciplinary Board
- Ousmane Kane, Senegal. – President.
- Jane Njeri Onyango, Kenya – Vice President.
- Norman Arendse, South Africa – member
- Mohamed Mostafa El-Mashta, Egypt. – member
- Djonfoune Golbassia Felix, Chad. – member
- Patrick Shale, Lesotho – member
- Douma Ibrahim Issaka – Niger. -member
- Ruth Kisaakye, Uganda. -member
- Drucil Taylor, Sierra Leone. – member
Appeal Board
Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, Nigeria
Faustino Varela Monteiro, Cape Verde
Moez Ben Tahar Nasri, Tunisia
Moses Ikanqa, Namibia
Hamoud T’feil Bowbe, Mauritania
Mohamed Robleh Djama, Djibouti
Asogbavi Komlan, Togo
Justice Masauko Timothy Msungama, Malawi
Lubamba Ngimbi Hector, DR Congo
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The Libya-Nigeria Group D tie of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers scheduled for this Tuesday has been put off owing to the refusal of the Libyan authorities to allow the Nigerian team to enter their territory for the match.
As a result, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has referred the case to its Disciplinary Board to make an appropriate decision. The immediate consequence of this is the delay of the Nigerian team picking an early qualification as has been done by Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Algeria who have all qualified after four matches.
A win by Nigeria on Tuesday would have taken their point haul to 10 while a draw would take their total to eight. That way, irrespective of the result of the Rwanda-Benin Republic corresponding match would have qualified the Super Eagles for Morocco 2025 as they would not have ended below second position in Group D.
They now await the decision of the CAF body. A possible outcome could be Libya’s forfeiture of the match. A case in point is that of USM Alger of Algeria versus Morocco’s RS Berkane in last year’s Confederation Cup semi-final duel when the Moroccans were unjustly delayed at the airport by the Algerians.
In the case of the Super Eagles, it was worse as theirs was not just delayed, they were locked up in a desolate airport in what was a psychologically draining and energy sapping tactics.
Five-time winners Cameroon and 2019 champions Algeria both booked their places at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco after victories in qualifying on Monday, bringing the number of qualified teams to four.
Cameroon defeated Kenya 1-0 when Boris Enow scored the only goal of the game in neutral Kampala, while Ramy Bensebaini netted a first-half spot-kick winner for Algeria against Togo in Lome.
Enow drilled a low free-kick into the goal from just outside the box as Cameroon dominated the contest and did enough to win in the absence of their federation president Samuel Eto’o, who is serving a six-month stadium ban by world governing body FIFA.
The victory takes Cameroon to 10 points from four games in the pool and ensured they cannot finish outside of the top two, which is enough to secure a place at the 24-team finals.
Algeria have a full haul of 12 points from four games after Bensebaini converted a penalty on 18 minutes to give them lead, but they had to weather heavy pressure from their hosts, who created enough chances to get something from the game.
Cameroon and Algeria join the hosts and Burkina Faso as the four teams so far confirmed for the finals.
Zimbabwe moved into a strong position in their pool with a 3-1 win over Namibia in neutral Johannesburg that leaves them on eight points, four ahead of third-placed Kenya with two rounds to play. One of those fixtures is at home to Kenya next month.
Walter Musona scored a brace, one a penalty, to go with a strike from Prince Dube.
Equatorial Guinea are five points clear in second place in their pool after a 2-1 win over Liberia in Monrovia.
Luis Asue had them in front early, but William Gibson equalised for the hosts. Just as it appeared the game would end in a draw, Dorian Hanza netted a 94th minute winner.
Musa Barrow scored the decisive goal for Gambia in their 1-0 victory over Madagascar, making up for a penalty miss earlier in the game
Gambia move into second place in their pool, ahead of Comoros on head-to-head record, but having played a game more.
Mozambique moved to the top of their pool with a 3-0 win over Eswatini in Nelspruit, their first goal scored by 40-year-old winger Domingues.
They are five points clear of third-placed Guinea Bissau, who host Mali on Tuesday.
-Reuters
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