Augustine Eguavoen
SUPER Eagles head coach Augustine Eguavoen has predicted another tight encounter in Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16 tie against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia at the Stade Roumdé Adjia Garoua.
Nigeria going into the game with their 100 percent performances in the group stage while Tunisia only qualified for the knockout stage as one of the best losers, finishing in third place behind the Gambia and Mali, and winning only one of their three matches while losing the other two.
Eguavoen understands the qualities the North African side possess despite their unimpressive campaign in their group stage, insisting that Tunisia are not pushover.
“I expect a very tough game against the Tunisians. Our group will not be lulled into any sense of superiority over any team here until we do the business on the field. Tunisia is a big name in African football and we must acknowledge that, despite the manner in which they reached this stage.
“We have watched some of their games and from what we know of them in the distant past and in lucid memory, they are never a team to take for granted,” Eguavoen warns.
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Eguavoen was head coach of the Super Eagles when Nigeria upended the Carthage Eagles on penalty shootout in Port Said in Egypt 16 years ago to send the Cup holders out of the tournament at the quarter final stage.
“That was a huge, huge game and a memorable one for me. The match ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time and we had to go into penalties. We lost two of our first three kicks or something like that and then bounced back when our goalkeeper (Vincent Enyeama) stopped two of their kicks. It was a sweet victory,” Eguavoen said.
Interestingly, Nigeria and Tunisia had met on twenty occasions; out of which the Super Eagles were on the winning side six times, the same as Tunisia while the two sides drawn eight times.
The match will be Eguavoen’s 16th for Nigeria across three stints, during which he has walked off the pitch victorious in 13 of the previous 15, with only two narrow defeats. He is also the only man to have coached Nigeria to win all three group phase matches at the AFCON, achieving this in both his AFCON odysseys in 2006 and 2022.
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