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Nigeria will face a tough test on Saturday night when they play Tunisia in the Africa Cup of Nations 2025. The Group C match will be played at Fez Stadium in Morocco, with kick-off at 9 pm local time (20:00 GMT).
Nigeria opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Tanzania, but the Super Eagles missed many chances and failed to kill off the game.
Coach Eric Chelle might want a more solid performance, especially from striker Victor Osimhen, who struggled to make an impact in the opener.
Nigeria’s Semi Ajayi’s opener in the 37th minute and Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman’s goal in the 52nd minute sealed a winning start for Eric Chelle’s AFCON reign.
Tunisia, by contrast, arrived full of confidence after a comfortable 3-1 win over Uganda. Winger Elias Achouri scored twice, while midfielder Ellyes Skhiri also found the net as the Carthage Eagles moved to the top of Group C.
After the first round of matches, Tunisia’s Eagles of Carthage sit first in the group on goal difference, with Nigeria in second place.
Tanzania and Uganda remain without points. A win on Saturday would put either Nigeria or Tunisia in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stage.
Speaking on Friday, Chelle said his team may need to change their approach against a strong Tunisian side.
“In my mind, I have two options: the first is maybe to let Tunisia have the ball, or when we get the ball back, we go direct, or we continue with our philosophy,” Chelle said. “As we know, Tunisia is a good team, and maybe we will change something.”
He hinted that Nigeria worked on improving their intensity in training after the first match.
“We had our training sessions after the first game, and in the sessions we tried to add more intensity. We have a game against a great team, so let’s go for this game.”
“I have to prepare my players well, as it’s not going to be easy. Tunisia are a great team, as I said; they have a lot of good players with experience, lots of young players, so they play well as a team.”
The two teams share a long history, having met 21 times across competitive and friendly matches. Their most recent meeting came at AFCON 2022, when Tunisia knocked Nigeria out with a 1-0 win in the round of 16.
Predicted line-ups
Nigeria: Stanley Nwabali (goalkeeper); Bright Osayi-Samuel, Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey, Bruno Onyemaechi; Samuel Chukwueze, Wilfried Ndidi, Alex Iwobi; Ademola Lookman; Victor Osimhen, Akor Adams.
For Tunisia, striker Hazem Mastouri had been a fitness concern after coming off at half-time against Uganda following several heavy challenges, but he has been declared fit and is expected to feature.
Tunisia: Aymen Dahmen (goalkeeper); Yan Valery, Dylan Bronn, Montassar Talbi, Ali Abdi; Ferjani Sassi, Elyes Skhiri, Hannibal Mejbri; Elias Achouri, Hazem Mastouri, Elias Saad.
