Carthage Eagles feast on Nigeria Unfriendly start In a sea of reds, the hosts sparked off an electrifying afternoon with a loud noise, aided by their over 57,000 screaming fans. The loud noise reflects an intimidating afternoon for the Eagles but a handful of the Nigeria football supporters club and their drums meant the Super Eagles are not orphans after all. The build up to the game showed promises of what to expect and the atmosphere inside the magnificent, newly renovated Stade 7 Novembre depicts a dull game ahead. Efforts to frustrate the Super Eagles were glaring for all to see as the hosts goofed by playing a strange national anthem instead of that of Nigeria. Kick off: Nigeria started the game with precision and calmness, exhibiting good passing skills. A harsh tackle on Udeze was ignored by Benin referee, Codjia Coffi to the fury of Austin Okocha, whose protest only fell on deaf ears. A mix-up in the Nigerian defence by Isaac Okoronkwo in the 21st minute almost gifted Santos the chance to fire in the first shot of the match and open the scoring with only Enyeama to beat but the Enyimba keeper made a good stop. Super Eagles started making costly errors in the defence, notably from Okoronkwo and Udeze allowing Santos to roam freely in the Nigerian box. Tunisia captain Khaled Badra is booked for blocking Kanu when the striker's pass to goal was blocked by Badra when Nigeria were in a promising position 40 yards from goal. Badra will miss the Cup of Nations final should the Carthage Eagles get there. Second half: Bizarrely, the correct Nigerian national anthem is played before the second half, after Tunisian officials played the wrong one before the start of the match. The anthem is booed by local fans. The Nigerian delegation had complained about the initial anthem-and for the first time in the history of international football, a national anthem was played in the second half. The half started on a fast pace orchestrated by the host, hoping to catch the 1994 winners on the counter. Tunisia nearly got a reward as Bouazizi almost tees up Mnari inside the penalty area but Utaka, for the second time in the match, rescued his team with a timely clearance. Okoronkwo foul on Jaziri earned him a yellow card in the 61st minute thus ruling him out of the next game- the resultant free kick nearly embarrassed Eagles but the culprit Okoronkwo made amends with a quick intervention. Nigeria made a neat build up in the 67th minute and Kanu Nwankwo was freed on the left; the lanky forward made a brilliant run from 40 yards and was brought down by Hagui to win a penalty for Nigeria. Okocha’s first attempt was nearly saved by Ali but the referee ordered it to be retaken and the Bolton man calmly claimed his third goal of the competition in the 68th minute. Tunisia then took the game to the Nigerians forcing two successive corner kicks and the second Tunisia got a deserved equaliser through a penalty after Ziad Jaziri was tripped by Seyi Olofinjana in the 82nd minute. Khaled Badra converted the penalty sending the huge crowd into wild celebration. Both sides made effort to avoid the looming extra time with substitutions, Ekwueme came in for Lawal and Pius Ikedia replaced Kanu.
Extra time: The first half of extra time saw both teams avoiding a costly error, and the first clear chance fell on the young eagle, Osaze, as he bravely outpaced two defenders but his last kick lacked great power.
Osaze for the third time failed to capitalise on a brilliant chance as his weak strike was parried by Ali before Badra picked the ball out. The game obviously reflects tensed moments as both sides played with caution but all efforts to avoid a looming penalty lottery went up in smoke as the Benin referee ended the game and for the first time in the 24th Africa cup of nations, penalty will decide who plays in the final. Penalty shoot-out Tunisia 1-0 Nigeria Tunisia 1-1 Nigeria Tunisia 2-1 Nigeria Tunisia 2-1 Nigeria Tunisia 3-1 Nigeria Tunisia 3-2 Nigeria Tunisia 4-2 Nigeria Tunisia 4-3 Nigeria Tunisia 5-3 Nigeria How they started the game: Nigeria: 1-Vincent Enyeama; 2-Joseph Yobo, 5-Isaac Okoronkwo, 15-George Abbey, 16-Ifeanyi Udeze; 4-Nwankwo Kanu, 10-Jay Jay Okocha, 11-Garba Lawal, 14-Seyi Olofinjana; 7-John Utaka, 20-Peter Odemwingie Referee: Bonaventure Coffi Codja (Benin).
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