Super Eagles interim coach, Austin Eguavoen has described Tunisia as a strong North African team.
Nigeria will face the Carthage Eagles on Sunday in the round of 16 of the ongoing 2021 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The Super Eagles qualified from Group with a 100 per cent record, the only team to win all three matches in the group stages in this year’s tournament.
Speaking to NFF TV, Eguavoen congratulated his players for their success so far and expressed readiness to face Tunisia.
He also described the North Africans as a ‘strong team’ with good technical qualities.
“Congratulations to our team, we’ve qualified and now it’s clear we will play against Tunisia which is another North African strong team. We will continue to work hard as we’ve always done, same approach, same determination, the tactics might differ a little bit.
“We are ready, yesterday we did a little bit of recovery training, today we will start working on how we will approach Tunisia’s game.”
While Nigeria brushed aside Egypt, Sudan and Guinea Bissau to top the group, Tunisia qualified as one of the best losers from group F.
They lost the opening game against Mali in a dramatic form but bounced back with a 4-0 victory over Mauritania before narrowly losing 1-0 to The Gambia in their last group game to finish third behind Mali and The Gambia.
“They had ups and downs,” Eguavoen said. “The first game ended in a dramatic fashion, they’ve lost two penalties in two games, yesterday they lost narrowly but it was towards the end of the game.
“For them, having qualified to the knockout stage, it’s a different ball game. You know what the knockout stage is, the Round of 16, if you don’t get it, you are out, if you get it, you are through to the quarter-finals.
“It’s going to be a very different game. They (Tunisia) are a very good team, technically very good, they are fast as well, a typical North African team. So we will make sure we find a way to counter them and make sure we overcome at the end of the day.”
Nigeria will face Tunisia on Sunday, January 23, 2021 at the Stade Roumde Adjia Stadium in Garoua by 8pm.
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