Tunisia's national team challenges Nigeria and "bad luck" in the African Cup final price
The Tunisian team will face a new challenge in its journey to the African Nations Cup, which is currently being held in Cameroon, when it faces Nigeria tomorrow in the (Eagle Eagles) in the 16th round of the continental competition.
Despite the misfortune that has been chasing Tunisia's national team, nicknamed "Eagles of Carthage", since the start of the tournament, it raises the flag of the challenge against the "Green Soaring Eagles" team, hoping to win the nomination paper for the quarter-finals and continue the journey in the competition, which was crowned in 2004.
Bad luck began chasing Tunisia's national team since its first meeting in Group F in the first round, which it lost 0-1 against Mali, which witnessed controversial events, the hero of which was Zambian referee Gani Sikazwe, who managed the match, after he finished the meeting before the end of the original time amid everyone's astonishment.
The Tunisian team’s troubles continued in the tournament, after a number of its players were infected with the Corona virus before its match with his Mauritanian counterpart in the second round of the group, but he won the bet in the end after he beat the team nicknamed “Al-Mourabitoun” 4-0, to equal the largest victory in its history in the nations of Africa, which He achieved it over his Ethiopian counterpart in the competition version in 1965.
Soon, the Tunisian national team received another shock before its match against Gambia, after a new batch of players was infected with Corona infection, including Wahbi Khazri, Ali Maaloul and Ghaylan Al-Shaalali, so that the team was affected by those influential absences of course and received a loss in the last seconds 0/1 against his opponent, who participates For the first time in the African Nations, but it was not influential in reaching the round of 16, after he finished third with 3 points, to be among the best 4 thirds in the six groups in the first round.
The misfortune did not stop there for the Tunisian team, after it missed 3 penalty kicks in its three matches in the first round, which was enough to improve its ranking in the group, and to stay away from this early clash against Nigeria.
Wahbi Khazri missed a penalty kick against Mali, before the matter was repeated with Youssef Msakni and Saif Eddine Jaziri in the matches of Mauritania and Gambia, respectively.
The absence of Hamza Mathlouthi and goalkeeper Farouk bin Mustafa from the Nigeria meeting was confirmed for disciplinary reasons, as the Egyptian right-back Zamalek received a second warning against Gambia, which witnessed the Tunisian Esperance goalkeeper receiving a red card, despite sitting on the bench in the match.
The Tunisian team hopes that its players infected with Corona will recover before the Nigeria match, which comes only 72 hours after the Gambia meeting, so that they can strengthen the team’s ranks before that important confrontation against the leaders of the fourth group.
The Nigeria team, which has 3 titles in the tournament, officially presented its credentials as one of the leading candidates to win the continental title, after attracting attention to it during its first-round meetings, as it was the only team among the qualified teams for the playoffs, who achieved the full mark in the group stage, after He won all three of his matches.
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