How Nigeria set up battle of the Eagles clash with Tunisia in AFCON Round of 16

The Carthage Eagles and the Super Eagles will lock horns in the first knockout round of the continental championship to determine who proceeds to the quarterfinals

Nigeria are scheduled for a potentially tricky contest with Tunisia in a Round of 16 tie of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations on January 23, 2021. 

To set up the clash between the two former champions, the Super Eagles finished top of Group D ahead of Egypt while the Carthage Eagles ended in third place behind Mali and Gambia.

Nigeria humbled Egypt 1-0 on matchday one before thrashing Sudan 3-1 on January 19 to seal qualification to the second round.

But despite securing the top spot in Group D, the 2013 Afcon kings did not take the foot off the gas as they shot down Guinea-Bissau 2-0 on Wednesday to make it three wins out of three. 

The Carthage Eagles had a below-par outing in Group F, though, winning one and losing the other two.

The Tunisians bounced back from a controversial opening day 1-0 defeat to Mali with a 4-0 thrashing of Mauritania. But a new low point was hit when the North Africans lost 1-0 to debutants Gambia on matchday three. 

A difficult match lies ahead of the duo all the same, with the two Eagles having won four Afcon titles between them. 

The Super Eagles are three-time champions of the tournament, with the second of the honours secured when Tunisia hosted the event in 1994. The Carthage Eagles have only won Africa’s biggest football festival once, and it arrived on home soil in 2004.

Ranked 30th on the FIFA world ranking, the Tunisians have a slight edge over the West Africans, six places below them on the global standing.

But the Super Eagles will be the favourites when the contest kicks off, with the Augustine Eguavoen-led side the only team in Cameroon who emerged out of the group stage with a hundred percent win record.

The last time the two Eagles met at the Afcon was two years ago in Egypt, with the Super Eagles carrying the day.

Odion Ighalo’s third-minute strike inside the WE Al-Ahly Stadium in Cairo at the third-place match was enough to see Nigeria claim the bronze medal.