AFCON 2021: Tunisia ouster should spark regret for Super Eagles, not glee

Watching Burkina Faso overcome Tunisia to book a place in the Semi-finals of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the overwhelming feeling among Nigeria fans seemed to be of exultation.

It was an understandable sentiment, considering it was the north African side that saw off the Super Eagles in the Round of 16, stunning the much-vaunted three-time African champions and shattering the incipient dream of a fourth triumph in Cameroon – prime enemy territory.

To see the Carthage Eagles so effectively corralled was deeply satisfying then. To paraphrase Roger Moore in ‘For Your Eyes Only’, I don’t have it, you don’t have it.

However, what that result should have sparked was not glee, but regret.

Burkina Faso executed the perfect gameplan, one which was within reach—and which even got some pitch time, to a limited degree and in an attacking sense – during Nigeria’s defeat to Tunisia.

By basing their attacking play around the movement of Djibril Ouattara – who dragged the Tunisia defence up the pitch to open spaces to play in runners – Cyrille Bayala and Dango Ouattara, Kamou Malo created openings for his side and constantly put the opponent in uncomfortable positions during the proceedings.

The contrast between that approach and the one employed by Nigeria was stark, and should make for sober reflection.

Against an opponent in Tunisia that are eminently comfortable defending their own penalty area, Austin Eguavoen opted for Taiwo Awoniyi upfront. For all his gifts, the Union Berlin man is far from mobile, and has a notable weakness when it comes to quick combinations in deeper areas.

It was never going to work.

In fairness to Eguavoen, Awoniyi had started Nigeria’s first two matches, and gave a decent enough account of himself in those appearances to justify his place in the team. However, had the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director done his homework, he would have quickly realised that was the wrong pick.

If he did not before the match, then certainly in the course of proceedings it should have dawned on him.

Instead, when he elected to make a change (on the hour mark, by which point Tunisia had broken the deadlock), he brought on Peter Olayinka, a nominal wide player at club level who excels at hard running but little else. Only with 15 minutes to play and with Nigeria down to 10 men did Eguavoen finally bring on a centre-forward comfortable moving into different zones of the pitch and asking different questions of the Tunisia defence.

No surprise then that, upon Umar Sadiq’s entry, the Super Eagles immediately found some continuity to their attacks centrally and created a couple of decent openings.

Eguavoen can, of course, protest that no one could have known how it would pan out. That is a fair enough argument. 

However, that simply goes to show the importance of doing your homework before kick-off and responding quickly enough to the dynamics of a match.

Burkina Faso could have started Abdoul Tapsoba upfront. He started their opening two matches of the tournament, after all. However, coach Malo was clued up enough to understand that different problems require different tools, and adapted his line-up to give his side the best chance of winning.

On the night, especially in the first half, some of the Stallions’ attacking play was simply sublime in its intrepidity. It cast them in the role of protagonists, not so much in the possession stakes, but in driving the pattern of the proceedings. It was Tunisia needing to respond to them, not the other way around.

The results are in. Burkina Faso have the satisfaction of a place in the Semi-finals of the AFCON. For Nigeria, however, there is only the satisfaction of knowing their conquerors will go no further.

If you really think about it once the schadenfreude fades, that is quite pathetic.