Head coach of Tunisia Sami Trabelsi has reveled the conversation he had with Victor Osimhen shortly after the striker opened scoring for Nigeria in a 3-2 win at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen powered home a firm header to put Nigeria ahead in the win that sealed the Super Eagles spot in the round of 16. Osimhen drew attention with the manner which he celebrated his goal.

He ran towards the bench of Tunisia and pointed at the coach, who stood watching in astonishment. Osimhen was handed a yellow card for the provocative celebration.

Trabelsi was asked about the incident after the game, and he explained the possible reasons why the forward celebrated in that manner, and the word that was said.

“I don’t know, I think he thought I was speaking to the referee too much or trying to influence the referee, which wasn’t the case. I didn’t respond to it, but it was disrespectful”, he explained.

Luckily Osimhen won’t face any further retrospective punishment from CAF with the incident already handled by the referee.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle refused to accept that his decision to substitute midfielder Frank Onyeka and striker Akor Adams played a role in the team’s capitulation in their 3-2 win over Tunisia, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Chelle’s team were leading 3-0 but conceded twice in the final 15 minutes of the game, and were lucky to pick all three points with Tunisia ending the game on a high with chances that went begging.

The coach was accused of poor game management as why his team capitulated with his decision to introduce two wingers in Moses Simon and Chidera Ejuke, after taking off a forward in Adams and midfielder in Onyeka.

” My choice of substitutions depends on what happens on the pitch, like I said we did good 75 minutes with high pressure on the pitch and after 75 minutes the Tunisian team arrived to find more, this side they fixed and go to the other side and because now I think you know our system”, he said at the post match presser.

“So this is why I made some substitutes and like I said you cannot do 60, 90 minutes with big high pressure and my team deserved this victory.

“We did some mistakes like the first game, we continue to improve. I think this game is better than the first and I hope that the third game will be better than the second”, he concluded.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

The senior national team of Nigeria secured their spot in the round of 16 at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations with a nervy 3-2 win over Tunisia in their second group game of the tournament, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Nigeria started the game on the front foot and were duly rewarded when top striker Victor Osimhen headed them in front in the 44th minute. A led they held as both teams head for the half time break.

Five minutes after the break, Wilfred Ndidi scored Nigeria’s second goal of the game with another header from a well delivered corner kick from Ademola Lookman.

Lookman got his second of the tournament in the 67th minute to put Nigeria 3-0 up, and well on course for a comfortable win, but it wasn’t to be with Tunisia scoring in the 74th via a header and 87th minute from the spot to bring scores to 3-2.

Super Eagles however hang on to claim a 3-2 win and passage to the next round of the tournament, with one more group game to go against Uganda.

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle has made two changes to the starting lineup of his team for their second game in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) against Tunisia.

We can exclusively reveal that the coach has dropped the duo of Zaidu Sanusi and Samuel Chukwueze with Bruno Onyemaechi and Frank Onyeka coming in for them respectively.

Chelle also switched from his preferred 4-4-2 formation to a basic 4-3-3 as he bid to have some level of control over a possession based team like Tunisia.

A win will see them seal a spot in the round of 16 and it will also be sweet revenge against the team that sent them packing from the tournament in the round of 16 in 2002.

Below is the starting lineup.

Stanley Nwabali

Bright Osayi-Samuel

Bruno Onyemaechi

Calvin Bassey

Semi Ajayi

Frank Onyeka

Alex Iwobi

Wilfred Ndidi

Ademola Lookman

Adams Akor

Samuel Chukwueze

Former Chelsea and Super Eagles of Nigeria defender Celestine Babayaro says Victor Osimhen is guilty of not timing his runs to perfection resulting in so many offside calls against him in promising positions, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Osimhen was denied his first goal at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations when he was adjudged to be offside in the Super Eagles 2-1 win over Tanzania, which was their first game of the tournament.

At the last AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, Osimhen had three goals chalked off for offside and according to Babayaro it’s the poor nature of his runs that makes him to stray offside most times.

” You have to time those runs and get them right. Osimhen moves a bit too early and most times he isn’t even aware of where his marker is. He tends to run without checking which is why he is constantly flagged offside”, Babayaro told OwnGoalNigeria.com.

” It is normal for strikers to be caught offside, but when it’s becoming too much like that of Osimhen then you have to look at the timing of his runs, which is something he has to improve on to be a top striker for a top team”, he concluded.

The star defender of the Tunisian team Montassar Talbi says he has fond memories of how his team have secured good results against Nigeria in the past ahead of tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations game, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

Tunisia started their campaign with a 3-1 win over Uganda and will take on Nigeria looking for a win that will seal their spot in the round of 16 of the tournament. The same round where they eliminated the Super Eagles in 2022 when the tournament took place in Cameroon.

Looking ahead to the game, with Nigeria also starting their campaign on a high Talbi said they want to create fresh memories for their fans citing the 2-2 draw in Abuja in a world cup qualifiers in 2010, and the recent 1-0 win in 2022.

” We’ve had a great start to this tournament with a victory against Uganda, and we really hope to keep the momentum going by securing a second win tomorrow against Nigeria”, the Lorient defender said at the pre match conference.

” I have good memories of Tunisia against Nigeria at the 2021 AFCON, Yousef Msakni’s goal in the 46th minute or even Darragi’s goal away to Nigeria in the last minute of the 2-2 draw. We hope to create new memories for Tunisians tomorrow”, he stated.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Nigeria will tomorrow take on Tunisia in their second game of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco after starting on a high with a 2-1 win over Tanzania, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.

A win against the team who knocked them out of the tournament in 2022 in the round of 16, will see them book a spot in the same round with one game to spare against Uganda.

Looking ahead to the game, head coach of the Nigerian team Eric Chelle says his team have two options of approaching the game, and he hasn’t decided on which approach will be better.

” I cannot talk about my starting lineup, so you’ll see at the beginning of the game. I can tell you something. Now in my mind I have two options. The first is maybe to give the ball to Tunisia and when we get the ball back go directly to score goal or to continue with my philosophy because the game against Tunisia is a great game maybe we will change something”,

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman

Head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Eric Chelle will likely make just one change to the Super Eagles starting lineup against Tunisia in tomorrow’s Africa Cup of Nations game, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Chelle’s team started the campaign with a 2-1 win over Tanzania, and will hope for more of the same tomorrow against Tunisia who defeated them in the round of 16 in the 2019 tournament in Cameroon.

Feelers from yesterday’s training suggest that Samuel Chukwueze will likely make way for Moses Simon to come into the starting lineup for tomorrow’s game.

Simon impressed Chelle with his overall contribution when he was introduced as a substitute against Tanzania. The idea is to also use his ability to track back against a team that loves to play on the break.

Tunisia is a team that loves to keep the ball, and also deadly in transition hence the need for Chelle to play with a runner who is willing to track back and add to the numbers defensively in the event of a breakaway.

The team will perfect their tactics later today in their final training session ahead of the 6:30pm Nigerian time clash, where a win will see team seal a spot in the round of 16.

Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman